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WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION
IN SCOTLAND
Cornell University Library
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Wholesale Co-operation
in Scotland
THE FRUITS OF FIFTY YEARS' EFFORTS
(1868— 1918)
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SCOTTISH CO-OPERATIVE
WHOLESALE SOCIETY, COMPILED TO
COMMEMORATE THE SOCIETY'S
GOLDEN JUBILEE
BY
JAMES A. FLANAGAN
CO-OPERATIVE NEWS
Glasgow :
The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited
95 Morrison Street
1920
y45 s^r
PRINTED BY THE
SCOTTISH CO-OPERATIVE WHOLESALE SOCIETY LlMlTECe
SHIELDHAL.L, GLASGOW
^^9^??
THIS JUBILEE VOLUME
IS
De&icateb
TO THE HUMBLE MEN AND WOMEN, OF SLENDER MEANS
AND GIANT HOPES, WHOSE FAITH IN CO-OPERATIVE
PRINCIPLES AND LOYALTY TO GO-OPERATIVE PRACTICE
HAVE REARED THE WONDERFUL ORGANISATION W.HOSE
OPERATIONS ARE HEREIN DESCRIBED.
FOREWORD
It will be news to many readers, although probably not
to most, that Scotland has a double title to be regarded
as the Mecca of Co-operative pilgrims who wish to visit
the scenes of the earliest known Co-operative experiments.
Documentary evidence has established the fact that the
Fenwick Weavers' Society* practised Co-operation, in the
sense in which " Co-operation " is conceived by consumers
who club together for economic advantage, in 1769 — or,
let us say, one hundred and fifty years ago. That is the
earhest Co-operative Society in Great Britain, or anywhere
else, of whose existence documentary proof has been
brought to light. Upon that fact rests Scotland's first
title. The second title rests upon the fact that two
Scottish societies still trading have had a longer
continuous existence than any other societies in the
kingdom — if not in the whole world. These two societies
are the Bridgeton Old Victualling Society (Glasgow),
which was established in 1800, and the Lennoxtown
Friendly Victualling Society, which was established in
1812. The natural law is so strongly predisposed to
Co-operationt in every sense that it may be assumed that
Cq-operation, even in the trading sense, showed itself in
many places and in many forms during the centuries that
passed before the Fenwick experiment, notwithstanding
* See p. 22 and Appendix I.
t " AH are needed by each one ;
Nothing is fair or good alone." — Emerson.
vii
viii FOREWORD
the fact that no contemporary writings have been
unearthed to prove this view. Many little societies
followed those I have mentioned.* In their way, these
little societies were all charming manifestations of the will
to exist ; but circumstances were against their becoming
the Co-operative societies of to-day just as circumstances
are against the wild rose of the wayside becoming, of
itself, a Sunburst or a Gloire de Dijon. With the spread
of education among the working-classes, and with
inspiration drawn from their own experiences, later
generations of Co-operators devised means to protect
their societies from the withering blasts that blew from
without, and also devised means to develop their societies
from within. Experiences, that were sometimes unhappy,
showed that Co-operative societies spread over the
country could do a great deal to help the people who made
use of them ; but showed also that these societies could
do a great deal more if they themselves co-operated than
if each society remained an isolated unit. Co-operation
between societies, or the federation of societies, seemed
only a rational development of Co-operation between
individuals, and this development in Scotland has most
frequently taken the form of federated baking societies.
The federated baking societies are, as a rule, local in
their operations.t but most Co-operative federations in
Scotland, which are not purely local organisations, serve
some single purpose or are concerned with some single
trade.l The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society
* Over three hundred ejcisted in 1830.
tThe United Co-operative Baking Society (Glasgow) is something more than
a local organisation ; but it is unique in some respects.
tE.g. Paisley Co-operative Manufacturing Society; The "Scottish Co-operator"
Newspaper Society ; The Scottish Co-operative Laundry Association.
FOREWORD ix
differs from them all in its magnitude and in its scope.
No trade, except the trade in intoxicating liquors, is
without its scope ; no part of Scotland is outwith its
territory ; as the local Co-operative societies grow, it
grows. It is a national institution to the Co-operative
mind because even the other Co-operative federations in
Scotland are members of it. From the public point of
view it may also be regarded as a national institution,
because the societies which constitute its membership
comprise over half a million men or women members who,
with their families, account for more than half the
population of Scotland. The Jubilee of such an
Association warranted the publication — in the public
interest as well as in the Co-operative interest — of a clear
account of what the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale
Society is ; how it is constituted ; how it came into being ;
how, and by what stages, it has grown into the giant
Association it now is ; and what it has actually done,
during the past half century, to entitle it to claim the
respect and tlae gratitude of the masses of the people of
Scotland. To compile this account has been my task.
I have already had the pleasure of preparing several Httle
books* in which I have submitted records of the
achievements of some local Co-operative societies that
had completed fifty years of activity, and a similar task
fell to me when the Lennoxtown Society celebrated its
centenary.t These experiences, contrary to what one
might expect, only increased the anxiety with which
I faced the undertaking which the publication of this
*" Alloa Co-operative Society" (1912); "Co-operation in Lanark" (1913);
■"Co-operation in Sauchie" (1915).
t" Memoirs of a Century" (1913).
X FOREWORD
volume completes. Those little works dealt with local
ventures which were, nevertheless, local triumphs for
Co-operation. The volume now in the reader's hands is
not a local record. It surveys half a century of massed
Co-operative effort in Scotland. By it, some will judge
whether there is wisdom in that form of collectivism which
we call Voluntary Co-operation, or whether Co-operation
is worth while. Some readers will begin with minds not
favourably disposed to Co-operation, and I hope that they
will not end their reading in the same disposition. The
book, however, is written primarily for Co-operators who
already know something of the Scottish Co-operative
Wholesale Society. It is a Co-operative production.
Men dead and gone have been among my collaborateurs ;
for, although their voices are now hushed, their written
records live, and have been readily placed at my disposal
by their successors in the Co-operative movement. My
indebtedness to living Co-operators is acknowledged
elsewhere. The S.C.W.S. directors and officials have
hot sought to influence my treatment of the subject, and
they are therefore not committed to the views I express
in these pages. I ought to add that the publication has
come later than was intended ; but that ought not to be
altogether regretted, as it has enabled me to view the war
activities of the S.C.W.S. in truer perspective.
J. A. F.
CONTENTS
PAGE:
FOREWORD vii
HISTORICAL SECTION.
I. Hardships of the Scottish People Before the Co-
operative Era 1.
II. Advent of Co-operation and Growth of the Movement
tUl 1860 20.
III. The Conception of Wholesale Co-operation and an
Odd Result 3»^
IV. How the S.C.W.S. was Brought to Life 50
V. Five Years of Experimental Effort 69'
VI. Serious Storms Safely Weathered 87
VII. Distributive Branches Denote and Aid Progress 100
VIII. Productive Enterprises Follow Success in Distribution 114
IX. The Society's Coming of Age and a. Retrospect 133-
X. An Eventful Decade in which the Society Accepts a
Challenge 144
XI. The Society Carries its Flag Overseas 165
XII. A Chapter of Memorable Events 178'
XIII. The Last Decade and the Greatest 195
XIV. A JubUee-year View of " The Wholesale " 235-
XV. The Economic Influence of the Wholesale 243
XVI. The Wholesale in Times of National Crisis 269.
XVII. The Wholesale as a Social Influence 283
XVIII. Conclusion 291
DESCRIPTIVE SECTION.
I. " Morrison Street " 301
II. The Central Premises 303
III. The Grocery Departments 308-
IV. Leith Grocery Branch 315
V. Kilmarnock Grocery Branch 317
VI. Dundee Grocery Branch 318
VII. The Drapery Warehouse 320
VIII. Furniture Warehouse and Showrooms 324
IX. Edinburgh Furniture Warehouse 327
X. Stationery and Advertising 329'
XI. Insurance and Friendly Societies 334
XII. The Paisley Road " Gusset " 338
XIII. Other Glasgow Centres 340'
XIV. Building and Allied Departments 342
XV. Flour and Oatmeal Milling 346-
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.
XL.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Creameries, Margarine Factory, and Milk Centres . . . 352
Sausage, Ham-curing, and Bacon Factories 359
Fish and Fish Curing 361
Aerated Water Factories 363
Shieldhall and its Interests 366
Boot and Shoe Production and Tannery 370
The Printing Department 374
The Clothing Factories 379
Shirts, Hosiery, and Underclothing 382
The Cabinet Factory 387
The Tinware Factory 390
Productive Grocery Departments 393
The Chemical and Sundries Department 396
Tobaccos and Cigarettes 400
Mechanical, Electrical, and Motor Engineering 403
Brush Factory and Cooperage 404
The Fire Brigade 405
Wool Spinning and Weaving 406
The Jute Mills 410
Transport and Allied Departments 414
Soap and Glycerine Works 418
Wholesale Estates and Farms 422
Tea and Cocoa Production 425
Overseas Enterprises 430
Retail Branches of the Wholesale 435
APPENDICES.
Notes on the Fen wick Weavers' Society 440
Statistics from First Scottish Co-operative Survey, 1 867 442
Scottish Co-operative Statistics, 1911 443
Scottish Co-operative Statistics, 1918 444
Original Plan of the S.C.W.S 445
First Quarterly Report of the S.C.W.S 446
Descriptive Account of Procession at Opening of
Central Premises 448 •
Table Showing Progress of S.C.W.S. since 1868 450
S.C.W.S. Capital Account, 1918 454
Inventory of Land in Possession of the S.C.W.S., 1918 455
Inventory of Buildings in Possession of the S.C.W.S.,
1 91 8 457
Table Showing S.C.W.S. Employees at Date of Jubilee
Celebrations 458
Comparative Table showing Trading Relations
between Wholesale and Retail Societies 459
Committee and Officials at the Coming of Age 460
Directors, Auditors, and Officials at Jubilee 461
List of Elected Officials and Directors since 1868. . . . 464
Jubilee Celebrations, 1 91 9 468
ILLUSTRATIONS
Morrison Street, Glasgow Frontispiece.
Robert Stewart, J.P Facing page xvi.
John Pearson, J.P n 1
William Maxwell, K.B.E i, 16
Robert Macintosh, J.P ■ m 17
David Dale and Owenite Associations n 22
Old-time Scottish Co-operative Board n 23
Pioneers of the S.C.W.S. m 26
Early English and Welsh Helpers , , . n 27
The Two General Managers " 32
Survivors of the Original Board ^ 33
The Society's Secretaries — 1868-19X8 n 48
The Only Treasurers of the S.C.W.S n 49
Directors before Mr Barrowman's Retirement in 1881 ... n 64
Joint Group English and Scottish C.W.S. Directors, 1897 m 65
Group of Joint Buyers, 1897 n 80
Some Veteran Officials in 1918 n 81
More Veteran Officials n 96
Board of Directors, 1899 n 97
Jubilee Year Group of Directors n 112
S.C.W.S. Finance Committee, 1918 US'
S.C.W.S. Grocery Committee, 1918 .i 128
S.CW.S. Drapery Committee, 1918 n 129
Auditors at Jubilee m 144
The S.CW.S. Supreme Court n 145
A Federation of the World h 176
Distinguished Visitors at Shieldhall n 177
Original Site at 95 Morrison Street n 192
S.C.W.S. Central Premises ii 193
At the Central Premises n 208
The Grocery Departments ii 209
The Grocery Departments — ^Elevation of New Warehouse n 224
Leith Grocery and Provision Warehouse m 225
Drapery Warehouse, Glasgow (exterior) n 240
Drapery Warehouse, Glasgow (interior) n 241
Glasgow Furniture Warehouse — One of the Showrooms . . „ 256
China, Crockery, and Glassware Department ii 256
Music and Musical Instruments Department n 257
Jewellery Saleroom n 257
•riv ILLUSTRATIONS
Stationery Warehouse and Showroom Facing page 272
Chancelot Flour Mills 273
Regent Flour Mills i, 288
JEnnisldllen Premises ■. n 289
Fish and Fish Curing n 304-305
A Hive of Industry „ 320
Spinning and Weaving Mills n 321
Wool Bings and Carding Room at Ettrick n 352
Taybank Works — Jute Preparing and Spinning n 353
Taybank Works — Jute Yarn Winding and Weaving. ... u 368
The Wholesale's Prize Stud ,i 369
Opening of Calderwood Castle n 384
Belgian Refugees at Calderwood Castle n 385
Tea Production — Estates of the E. and S. C.W.S „ 400
Views on the Tea Estates ' u 401
Employees on the Tea Estates n 416
Blending and Packing Tea at the London Warehouse.. n 417
West African Enterprises m 424
Views of Cape Coast Castle „ 425
Luton Cocoa and Chocolate Works n 432
The Society's Retail Branches m 433
ERRATA.
JPage 26 (nineteenth line from top). — ^For "are on" read "are not on."
Page 31 — For " Mr Littlejohn, M.P.," read " Mr Littleton, M.P."
Page 146 (tenth line from bottom). — For " 1840 " read " 1890."
Page 212 (seventh line from bottom). — For " legislation " read "litigation.'
HISTORICAL SECTION
THE PRESIDENT
Mr flOBERT STEWART, J.P.
Elected Director 1899. Elected President 1908.
THE SECRETARY
Mr JOHN. PEARSON, J. P., Provost of Alloa
Ejected Director 1888. Elected Secretary 1907.
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE BEFORE
THE CO-OPERATIVE ERA.
HOSTILITY TO THE EDUCATION OF THE " LOWER ORDERS " WHY THE
DOMINATING CLASSES OBJECTED TO SCHOOLS EXTENT OF VAGRANCY
IN SCOTLAND THE PEOPLE'S AFFECTION FOR EDUCATION AND THE
CAUSE THEREOF THE PARISH SCHOOLMASTER AND HIS WORK THE
SELFISH SCOTTISH NOBILITY THE RIGHTS OF LANDLORD OVER THE
LIFE OF THE TENANT — SLAVERY FOR SCOTTISH WORKERS RECOGNISED
BY LAW : ITS ABOLITION TAXATION PROFITS — WAGES.
Scotland has the credit of having enacted Compulsory
Education by an Act* of the Scots Parhament passed as early
as 1494. It is true that it only applied to a small section of
the people, the Barons and Freeholders, who were to be mulct
in fines of ;f20 if they did not " put their sons to the schules,
fra they be sex or seine yeiris of age " ; but these were the
people who dominated the country, and the Act, for its time,
was an acknowledgment of the indispensabUity of education foi
those who had to do, or were at least expected to do, serious
thinking. At that time Scotland, with a population of less
than a million, had three universities for England's two. There
were grammar schools and high schools and a variety of
elementary schools in every part of the country, all of which
served a useful purpose, and many of which were taken advan-
tage of to a considerable extent. John Knox formulated the
ideal of " a school in every parish, a higher school or coUege
in cities and large towns, and university education." Between
1560 and 1620 attempts were made by the Scots Parliament to
encourage learning, and many privileges similar to Benefit of
Clergy were granted to those who were considered scholars. t
But education was as costly in Scotland as in other places —
except in a few schools — and it was so costly in universities
* "Acts of the Scots Parliament," Chap. Liv.
t Cleland's " Annals of Glasgow."
A
2 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
that students at these universities were granted speciaJL
permission to beg abns.
In the three succeeding centuries, the Scottish Universities,
according to Chambers's Encyclopaedia, did the special service
of suppl3^ng the want of those secondary schools which formed
part of John Knox's proposed national system, but which were
not achieved owing to the poverty of the country and the
selfishness of the leading nobility. Even the provision of the
parish school was not carried out rapidly. In 1616 the Privy
Council ordained that there should be a school in every parish.
The injunction was ignored, and the Scots Parliament found
it necessary to pass Acts for the same purpose in 1633, 1645,
and 1696 ; which made it clear that, for one reason or another,
there must have been many parishes without schools ; and the
ideal was not in fuU application even in the middle of the
nineteenth century.* It would be easy to understand why
people did not send their children to schools where these existed.
The reasons for that would be similar to the reasons which
prevent parents from agreeing readily to the raising of the
school-leaving age to-day, even in Scotland, and which make
many parents in England resentful of any attempt to abolish
the half-time system. These reasons are either the poverty or
the selfishness of the parents. The poverty of the parents,
however, did not constitute the chief reason for the disobedience
to the Acts of Parliament cited. These Acts were not framed
to compel people to send their children to parish schools ; they
simply ordered that there should be a school in every parish
to which people could send their children if they wished them
to be educated. The reason why these schools were not provided
seems also to have been economic ; for, more than a century
ago, Cleland, in the Annals already quoted, excuses himself from
entering into a refutation of " the illiberal arguments brought
against the principle of educating the lower orders of the people "
because the whole case had been put, shortly before he wrote
his Annals, by " a respectable writer on poUtical science." This
respectable writer had to controvert the argument (of the
opponents of the education of the poor) " that even being
able to read renders the lower classes of the people impatient
of labour, dissatisfied with their condition, turbulent in their
* Kerr's " Scottish Education in School and University."
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 3
disposition, and apt to find fault with the reUgious and political
establishments of the country." These same opponents of the
poor also argued that the wants of society required " that some
be- employed in the lowest and most degrading offices " ; and
those who took that view naturally enquired " to what purpose
will it be to improve the lives of those who can be happy only
in proportion as their ideas are grovelling and unrefined." Such
were the views that a Glasgow political scientist had to combat
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The views were
not new. Every new ascendancy that has come has attributed
such views to the preceding ascendancy. In Scotland the
Reformers attributed these views to the clergy of the Pre-
Reformation period ; Liberal poUticians have blamed Tory
pohticians for putting such views into practice, and the poUtical
representatives of Labour blame Tory and Liberal alike for
allowing the rich to keep the poorer classes in ignorance. There
was some method in the madness of those who kept the doors
of the school locked and barred against the common people,
or who forgot to provide a schoolmaster. The position was
much the same as in Ireland, where permission would be
ostentatiously given to erect a school and a site for the school
refused. Plain living, they say, notoriously leads to high
thinking ; and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing for some
people when it is possessed by those whose environment conduces
to high thinking. The environment of the Scots people in the
last two centuries was certainly plain enough to conduce to the
high thinking, and many were fortunate if they could even count
upon a plain Uving ; for in the beginning of the eighteenth
century, when there was less than a million of a population,
there were 200,000 vagrants who simply begged their way about
the country.* The Captain of Industry as we know him to-day
may curtail the educational opportunities of his " hands " ;
but he will rarely employ an illiterate if there is a choice ; he
prefers one who has some slight elementary knowledge, sufiicierit
at least, to be able to read and write and count a little. There
are, as we all know, employers who encourage their employees
to undertake educational courses ; but, with a few honourable
exceptions, such employers are only assisting their workers to
become more profitable servants. That is the more elegant way
♦Fletcher of Saltoun.
4 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of putting it ; and the red-hot Socialist would say more bluntly
that such employers only want to make the worker able to
produce more wealth for them. The dominant class to-day is
the capitalist-employing class. The dominant class up till the
eighteenth century had passed, and well into the nineteenth
century, was the class which comprised the nobles and the
landowners who had bought land from the nobles, or to whom
it had become forfeit for the non-payment of money lent to the
nobles. Well, the nobles and the landowners had no particular
desire to see the masses of the people educated. There were
the best of reasons why they should not be educated. If they
were educated and could read, there was no knowing what they
might read ; and if they read they might think, and there was
no knowing what sturdy people might think, especially people
who, for the greater part, had not a great deal to lose.. The
nation had already thought the English yoke should be cast off,
and, thanks to Bruce and the Abbot of Aberbrothock, it was
done in both the temporal and spiritual senses. The nation had
thrown over two forms of religion and had taken to a third.
The nation had got rid of a queen, however divided opinions
were on the subject ; and the people had been involved in wars
over the ruling sovereign's right to rule. Their nobles, and their
landlords, had led them ; but there was the danger that if
schools were set up in every parish as the Parliament decreed,
the people, with their outlook widened, might readily adopt the
same questioning attitude to the nobles and the landowners
that these same classes had led them to adopt towards others
in power. There was, nevertheless, a very considerable affection
for education among the people themselves. Devoutly religious
men were not content to have the Bible read to them ; they
yearned to read it for themselves, and it will be found, I believe,
that the fervour of the religious life of those centuries did most
to popularise the parish schools that did exist. The parish
schoolmaster was not the " wage-slave " that many teachers
account themselves to-day. He longed for pupils. He was
father and friend as well as teacher. Some of these old worthies
were scholars of brilliant attainments. It is nearly fifty years
since the board school took the place of the parish school, and
most of the old parish schoolmasters have passed away ; but
occasionally one reads an obituary paragraph in the newspapers
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 5
in which it is mentioned that the old worthy whose death is-
chronicled was a parish schoolmaster. There must be but few of
them left. Yet these old men sent brilliant students into the
world ; and in more than one case it might be said that the
schoolmaster of a little country parish parted with pupils
equipped not only with the three " R's," but possessed of a keen
enthusiasm for history and geography ; and with a knowledge
of mathematics, Latin, and other higher subjects sufficient to
carry them through the entrance examination at a university.
The spread of education of that kind came late. If it had
come earlier several things might have happened. The Union
of Parliaments, for instance, would never have taken place, and
many laws and customs that prevailed till comparatively recent
times would not have been tolerated by the people.
There grew up in Scotland a vigorous democratic tendency ;
for the Scottish clans had, under their own laws and regard-
less of the Statute Book, simply exercised in their own way the
principle of " Self-determination," of which some races have
heard for the first time since the present war began to reach
the " Peace Rumours " stage. Side by side with the spirit of
democracy there remained among the people the reproach that
they " dearly loved a lord." In some parts of Scotland deference
to the landlord, particularly if he be a titled landlord, is still
very marked. In recent centuries it was stiU more marked ;
it amounted to awe. Why this should have been so in the case
of the Scottish people beggars comprehension ; for the Scottish
nobles were for the most part predatory nobles in the fullest
sense. They had aU the acquisitiveness of the nobles of their
period in other countries ; but their greed and their selfishness
were aggravated by their chronic impecuniosity. They had
" lands and proud dwelhngs," as the song says ; but for the
most part they led an uncouth existence. Their attitude to
their tenants was almost like the attitude of the sugar planter
to the slave. They held the power of the gallows over their
tenants ; and not only had they that right, but they claimed
it, and pit and gallows formed part of the equipment of the
" big house " in more than one part of the country. When it
occurred to the Government that tenants were human beings
and their Uves human Uves, and that the landlord must be
deprived of this arbitrary right to hang people, the landlords
6 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
felt themselves aggrieved. They claimed compensation for being
deprived of the right, and the speeches dehvered in 1914 in
connection with the inauguration of the great Land Campaign
(of which little is now heard) disclosed the fact that one of the
last landed proprietors to claim compensation on this score was
an ancestor of the present Duke of Sutherland, who, in 1748,
demanded £10,000, but had to be content with £1,000.* 1 It is
almost incredible that any Government should have paid com-
pensation for such privation at such a comparatively recent
datfe. The exactions of the Sutherland famUy were severe
enough ; but. they were a wealthy family, and there is ample
evidence on record of the hardships and tyranny to which the
people were subjected when they were the tenants of "hard up"
landlords who had tasted the pleasures of society, but found
themselves short of the money necessary to open the doors of
the gay and great. A perusal of the records of the Scottish
nobles,! and the manner in which they grabbed the lands they
stiU hold, leaves us with one great perplexity— how to explain
the fact that the Scots are not rebels to a man. Whole tracts
of land, worked and sown and tilled by tenants of the same
family from generation to generation, were cleared of their
people ; counties were almost denuded of their population ;
islands were cleared of human beings except for the gamekeeper
and his family and the " ladies and gentlemen " who frequented
them in the shooting and fishing seasons. Smiling glens and
merry hamlets were compulsorily evacuated in order that sheep
might be set to grass. These clearances were effected with a
frightfulness before which even detested war atrocities pale.
People were sent to America without their consent ; old women
and children, even when sick, were left on the roadside exposed
to the elements, and there are cases on record in which old
people or invalids were allowed to perish in houses burned down
about them, assistance being wilfully withheld. J
Barbarous as was the treatment of tenants by their land-
lords, there were iniquities equally terrible — or almost as terrible
— in industrial life. Fletcher of Saltoun, whose estimate of the
number of vagrants at the beginning of the eighteenth century
*Mr Lloyd George at Glasgow, 4th February 1914.
t See " Our Noble Families," by T. Johnston.
{Mackenzie's "Highland Clearances."
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 7
has already been given, although a Republican, suggested slavery
for these vagrants — ^pure and unadorned slavery. It sounds
barbarous ; but at that time, and for ninety years longer,
slavery existed in Scotland. On entering to a " coal work,"
or a salt mine, colliers and salters, independent of agreement
between employer and employed, were bound by law to
perpetual service — ^perhaps servitude is a better word — there ;
and in the event of the sale or alienation of the ground on
which the works were situated, the right to their service passed,
without the need of any express grant, to the purchaser. The
sons of the collier or Salter could follow no occupation but that
of their father, and were not at liberty to seek for employment
anjrwhere else than in the mines to which they were attached
by birth.* This only meant that the sons of colliers and salters
were bom in and into slavery. The Scots Parliament had
passed a good deal of healthy legislation ; but it allowed this
state of things to last from the early part of the seventeenth
century, and even countenanced it by excluding the coUiers
and salters from the provision of the Habeas Corpus Act. Many
Scottish writers have since denounced this bondage ; but it
was not till the closing years of the eighteenth century that the
iniquity was abolished by an Act of ParUament under George III.
The power of life and death which landlords held over their
tenants, and the actual legalised slavery imposed upon miners,
were undoubtedly the worst features of the conditions that
prevailed up till the end of the eighteenth century. There were
no centres of industry such as we have to-day. The factory
was a thing unknown, and what could be called a centre of
industry in those days was a place like, say, Kilbarchan of
to-day, where the dick of the shuttle in the hand-loom is heard
in almost every row of houses. Agriculture claimed the labour
of most people, although home industries were carried on. Every
cottage had its spinning wheel and every Uttle township had its
looms ; while, of course, some centres were specially devoted
to these industries. The agricultural system in vogue was
poor. Very Uttle effort was made to develop the industry on
scientific lines. According to one authority, the methods of
farming in vogue in Scotland at the end of the seventeenth
century were exactly what they were at the time of Bannockbum.
* Chambers's Encyclopaedia ; cf . " Slavery."
8 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION JN SCOTLAND
Poor as were English agricultural methods and results, they were
better than those of Scotland. The first real improvements were
brought back from the Netherlands by soldiers who had fought
there, and it was not tiH the eighteenth century that real advances
were made in farming. Then intensive culture began to be
practised, proper ideas of draining were resorted to, the rotation
of crops was begun, and fields were enclosed. Various societies
were instituted to improve agriculture, and it is interesting to
learn from a historical sketch which appeared in the Co-operative
News when St Cuthbert's Co-operative Association made its first
venture in agriculture by the purchase of CUftonhall Estate,
that an earlier proprietor of the estate had placed part of the
land there at the disposal of one of these societies for the carrying
out of certain experiments, with a view to demonstrating the
value of new schemes. One of these societies, the Scottish
Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture, made
practical experiments, in 1723, which gave the Scottish farmer
a new idea of the importance of enclosure, draining, hmeing,
and furrowing, and which demonstrated also what could be done
with clover and grasses. In 1737 Andrew Rodger, a Roxburgh-
shire farmer, used the first machine for winnowing grain. It
shocked everybody in the district, and was regarded as an
unholy means of destro5dng the prerogative of Him who
" formeth the mountains and createth the wind." The fanner
came to stay, however ; various improvements were made in
the plough, and the threshing machine was invented. Towards
the end of the century scientific methods were also applied to
the improvement of hve stock, a work to which Lord Kames gave
a decided impetus. All these improvements increased suppHes
of food and clothing, and improved the prices at which farmers
were able to sell. One result of this was that the landowners
displayed a greater interest in farming, larger tracts of land were
farmed for their special benefit, agricultural shows and dinners
were held, and the excitement of competition increased the
enthusiasm of these " large farmers " who took part in such
assemblies. Another result, however, was that many who
formerly did farming for themselves sunk to the level of farm
labourers, who were forced to work at all hours, and were,
at the same time, deprived of the satisfaction they formerly
had of knowing that they were working for themselves.
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 9'
Undoubtedly, agriculture improved ; but, as happens so often
when improvements are effected, the full consequences of the
improvements were not foreseen or provided for. The popula-
tion on the land dwindled, and, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the position of the rural labourer was simply abject.
" He was in a state of poverty and dependence upon his master
which existed in no other walk of life."* The lot of the agri-
cultural labourer during the past century was stiU deplorable ;
what it is to-day is shown by the fact that the Government has
fixed his wages at 30/ per week (equal to 13/6 according to pre-
war value of money). This standard has been arrived at after
years of progressive propaganda for the raising of the " bottom
dog," and the figure shows how httle value a nation attaches to
the work of those whose Uves are spent in producing the nation's
food. The standard, however, represents a new world for the
agricultural labourer ; but when that is so, we can readily under-
stand why, at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
nineteenth centuries, there was such an exodus from the country
to the town. The rural labourer was so full of despair that he
readily deserted the hiUside and the glens, the cottage, and the
bum-side, the clear air and the country road, for the murky
atmosphere of the town, the dingy street, the confined hovel,
and the other deplorable changes that his trek involved. Agri-
culture, to which men devoted themselves, even if primitively
and unskilfully, for their own needs and the needs of the house-
hold, had passed into fewer hands ; in short, it had become not
an occupation but a trade. Even in 1770 Goldsmith wrote
deploringly :
" But times are altered ; trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain.
* * fi * * * *
Around the world each needful pioduct flies.
For all the luxuries the world supplies."
The swains felt that any change would be an improvement
yet, for the most part, the bitterness came upon them when they
realised the horrors of the city, where
" . . . the single sordid attic
Holds the living and the dead."
Nor did bitterness come only upon those whose work had lain
in the fields.
* Chambers's Encyclopaedia.
10 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
There had been many inventions in the eighteenth century.
Methods of improving the processes of treating iron ore had been
introduced. The development of the steam engine, and its
appUcation to almost every industry, had heralded a revolution
which soon came. The methods of coal-mining improved, and
the use of steam demanded greater supplies of coal and iron.
The Peace of Paris, at the close of the Seven Years' War, left Great
Britain, already an exporter, mistress of a great overseas trade
with powers of monopoly. James Hargreaves invented his
spinning jenny in 1766, and Sir Richard Arkwright invented
the spinning frame in 1768. Both became the object of great
rage by workers who saw their occupation gone, for Hargreaves
had his home broken into and his machine destroyed, and
Arkwright had to remove to Nottingham to escape popular
resentment because of his invention. The stimulus given to
trade by the Peace of Paris had created a craving for profits,
and nobody displayed greater greed in that direction than
Arkwright himself. When he had almost perfected his machine
he found that the yam, as it was dehvered through the roUers,
had a fatal trick of curhng back. Mr Thorold Rogers* tells how,
puzzling over this obstacle, he took into his confidence the local
blacksmith who made his machines, and that worthy, after
examination, said he could remedy what was wrong. Arkwright
asked his terms. Ten years' partnership and equal profits was
the reply. Arkwright went off in a rage ; but the yam stUl
curled. At last he 3delded, but the blacksmith insisted that a
proper deed should be executed and enrolled. Arkwright
swore, but he had to submit. When the deed was signed the
blacksmith went behind the roUers and, apparently, rabbed
one of them with his hand. The yam was delivered as was
wished, and Arkwright found that his new partner had only
rubbed a roller with some chalk to give it a different surface
from the other. He swore once more, but the partnership stood ;
and the blacksmith, who had as keen an eye to profit as Arkwright
himself, became Lord Belper. After a visit to one of Arkwright's
miUs, the Rev- Edmund Cartwright began to study machinery,
and he invented the power-loom in 1785. He met with the same
popular rage as Hargreaves and Arkwright ; he set up a factory,
from which he had to retire because of pubUc resentment against
* " Industrial and Commercial History."
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 11
his power-looms ; and 9. mill set up at Manchester later, with
four hundred of his looms, was burned down.
The factory system, however, had been inaugurated. The
great fiUip given to British trade after the Seven Years' War was
as nothing to that which came from the French Revolution.
In one respect history seems to be repeating itself. Advanced
thought welcomed that great popular upheaval, but its course
was contrary to expectations. The Russian Revolution, bom
■of the European War of 1914 and onward, and which overthrew
Czarism, was welcomed by the friends of hberty everywhere ;
but that revolution has also taken a course which many who
■welcomed it did not anticipate and do not bless. Democracy
in our own day has also hoped for revolution which could over-
throw Kaiserism ; the first shots in that revolution have been
fired, and its influence has passed over every German State ; but
the storm is not yet over, and none can tell how far the fires
lighted in Petrograd may extend or what outposts of Europe
they may yet consume. The French Revolution was simply an
expression of the popular declaration that a sovereign people
■" derives the civil and temporal authority of its laws not from
its actual rulers, nor even from its magistracy, but from itself ." *
That was the voice of democracy which set up the first French
Repubhc ; nevertheless, before long, Prussia, Austria, and
other German States, with Britain, Holland, Spain, and Naples,
were in armed league against the Revolution. AU Western
Europe was involved in war which did not cease tiU Napoleon
Buonaparte, one of the great discoveries of the Revolution, was
crushed at Waterloo. Britain suffered less than other countries,
whose trade was destroyed, and she was left to undertake the
greater part of the trade of Western Europe.
All this had a tremendous influence on the Uves of the people.
These great opportunities of trade opened up to British manu-
facturers, thus giving an impetus to the production of British
goods. Those engaging in trade were, as is their rule, eager to
derive as much profit as possible from their undertakings ; and
those profits stood to be augmented in proportion to the use made
of time and labour-saving devices, the cheapening of labour, and
the increasing of prices. The people's interpretation of these
processes was the terse formula, " low wages and high cost of
* Hilaire Belloc's " The French Revolution."
12 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
living." There were grave aggravations of these effects in the
wars which had raged, and in which Britain had been involved.
The war of the Austrian Succession cost us a considerable sum
during the seven years of its duration — from 1741 to 1748.
In 1754 we were at war with France over American colonial
differences. The Seven Years' War, which at the beginning found
Britain and Prussia arrayed against France and Austria, involved
other nations, cost Europe a miUion hves, and increased our
National Debt to 132 millions before it came to an end in 1763.
The War of American Independence which, hke many other wars,
is now regarded as having its origin in blundering administra-
tion, lost us our Colonies, and added 100 miUions more to our
Debt. War with France in 1778, war with Spain in 1779, war
with Holland in 1780, and later struggles at the opening of the
nineteenth century in the Peninsula and in France, added nearly
700 miUions of expenditure ; and, in short, the wars of ninety
years before 1812 — ^the year of Napoleon's disastrous adventure
in Moscow — ^increased the National Debt from fifty miUions to
about 880 miUions.* We scarcely gather wisdom from the
centuries, for, while the century from 1720 shows this increase
of 830 miUions, the century from 1820 shows the appalling
increase of over 6,000 millions — and the century is not yet quite
completed. Living in an era of false values, of eternal borrowing,
of inflated currency, of subsidised food, and of controUed prices
for essential goods, we cannot adequately penetrate the gloom
that lies ahead of us ; and, indeed, some are so deluded as to
think that the abnormal and artificial conditions of the war
period wiU endure, and that there wiU be no period of gloom to
face. We have no doubt, however, as to the reality of the
burden which feU upon those who Hved at the end of the
eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. The
national income was only a fraction then of the national income
of to-day. The people then had not the safety-valve of
ParUament that the people of to-day have. The workers of the
country have now the power of coUectivist action at their dis-
posal. They are banded together in trade unions to maintain
wages, to reduce hours ; they are banded together in their
co-operative associations to secure to themselves the fuUest
return for the wages they earn ; and, broadly speaking, people
* Sanderson's " History of the British Empire."
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 13
may combine in any political association they choose to join,
and may exercise their Parliamentary vote on a pretty broad
basis, and so, to some extent, affect the composition of ParUa-
ment. A hundred years ago the common people who combined
for political purposes were under the ban of the law, and
" agitators," or propagandists as we should call them nowadays,
were liable to banishment if their views were not whoUy agree-
able to the law-makers. Combination Laws, to the number of
about thirty-five,* existed at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. " There is one pecuharity to be noted," says Mr
Howell, " in the series of enactments under review, namely,
their increasing severity and comprehensiveness. . . . There
were cases, indeed, where juries refused to convict because, on
conviction, the penalties far exceeded what, in their opinion,
the justice of the case demanded. This, however, was seldom
the case in respect of offences under the Combination Laws."]
The fact seems clear that, as the years went on, and tiU the early
part of the nineteenth century, the tendency was for legislation
against the workers to become more harsh because the growing
severity of the struggle for existence made the workers bolder
in their efforts with a boldness begotten of despair. The Times
of yth January 1800 stated that : " One of the first Acts of the
ImperiaJ Parliament will be for the prevention of conspiracies
among journeymen tradesmen to raise their wages. All benefit
clubs and societies are to be immediately suppressed." One Act
of 1819 (60, George III.) provided that : "No meeting of any
description of persons exceeding fifty shall be held for the
purpose of deliberating on any pubUc grievance or on any
matter of trade, manufacture, business, or profession ; or on
any matter of Church and State ; or of considering or agreeing to
any petition, complaint, declaration, resolution, or address on
the subject thereof except, and unless, notice thereof be deUvered
personally to a justice, signed by seven householders." No
person was allowed to attend any such meeting, or return from
any such meeting, with any flag, banner, ensign, badge, or
emblem, or with music, or in military array or order, on pain of
fine or imprisonment. No such meeting could consist of more
than fifty persons, or any other person beyond the fifty would
be Uable to fine or twelve months' imprisoimient. The justices
* Howell's " Labour Legislation." t ^^^i-
14 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
could disperse meetings, and persons who did not disperse within
fifteen minutes of such a meeting being proclaimed, would be
guilty of felony and liable to seven years' transportation.
Political or trade union activities were apparently to be made
impossible. Parliament was unrepresentative of the mass.
Freeholders only could vote for members of Parhament for
counties, and members of the Corporations of Boroughs had also
the nominal title to elect " borough " members, although this
privilege was held by some local magnates, who ' " owned the
' borough,' " to be their prerogative. Under these conditions,
and recollecting the serious financial plight of the nation with
its heavy war debt, we may imagine what happened. Every-
body saw hardships ahead. Heavy taxation had to be met.
The wealthy did not wish to rehnquish any of their wealth, even
for taxation to defray the cost of wars which had given the
manufacturers large trade monopoUes. Two things had tO'
happen. In the first place there was a clamour for " increased
output in order to create wealth." Those who are urging the
apphcation of the same remedy to-day are therefore not rising
to any great height of originaJity. In the second place, the
taxation had to be such as would fall upon the working-classes.
So that the Government Controllers whose prerogative it has
been to fix prices, and who have fixed them so high as to swell
the Excess Profits Duty which constitutes a heavy indirect
taxation upon the consumer, have not shown any •great originality
in principle or purpose, even if their method differs sUghtly from
that of the rulers who represented, and were influenced by, the
wealthy classes of a century ago.
The two things suggested actually happened, and brought
about a state of affairs that was appalling. Things went from
bad to worse during the latter half of the eighteenth century,
s6 far as the " common people " were concerned. Not from the
early years of the seventeenth century (1630-40) were the
conditions of Ufe so bad as they were from 1790 tiU 1825 — and
a few years more might be added to the period. This is a period
of which Thorold Rogers writes as " the most disastrous period
through which the population passed."*
Taxation ground the people down. An article in the
Edinburgh Review in 1820 satirised the whole situation, and
• " Industrial and Commercial History."
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 15
described the taxation resulting from the war as " the inevitable
consequences of being too fond of glory." The description is as
follows : —
" Taxes upon, every article which enters into the mouth, or covers
the ba<;k, or is placed under foot ; taxes upon everything which it
is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste ; taxes upon warmth
light, and locomotion ; taxes upon everything on earth, and the
waters under the earth ; on everything that comes from abroad, or
is grown at home ; taxes on the raw material — ^taxes on every fresh
value that is added to it by the industry of man ; taxes on the sauce
which pampers man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to
health ; on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which
hangs the criminal ; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice;
on the brass nails of the cof&n, and the ribands of the bride — at bed
or board, couchant or levant, we must pay. The schoolboy whips
his taxed top ; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with
a taxed bridle, on a taxed road ; and the dying Englishman, pouring
his medicine, which has paid 7 per cent., into a spoon that has paid
15 per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid
22 per cent., and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid
a licence of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to
death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from 2 to
10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for
burying him in the chancel ; his virtues are handed down to-
posterity on taxed marble, and he is then gathered to his fathers —
to be taxed no more."
Very probably we ourselves would have been amused at
reading this a few years ago, but it is scarcely exaggerated ; and,
faced as we are with a terrible load of debt, we cannot read the
same passage now with the same appreciation of its humour,
nor could the working men and women of the period referred to
read it with the feeUngs of intense amusement that coidd come
to the " superior " readers of the Edinburgh Review. Sugar was
taxed at the rate of 30/ per cwt. ; salt was taxed sjd. per lb.
As another writer has put it : " Every necessary and every con-
venience of life was taxed. Raw materials, staple manufactures,
the earnings of the living and the savings of the dead were
visited by the tax-gatherer." Now, in a scheme for the raising
of revenue by indirect taxation, the wage-earners always suffer.
It is beyond doubt that the present war has brought about the
practice, among all kinds of business firms, of calculating the
possible amount of liability for Excess Profits Duty before
fixing the selling price of goods or the fees for service. Similarly,
before the war began, the amount of Income Tax was reckoned
when the selling price of an article was fixed, so that, instead of
16 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
these business people selling in the ordinary way, and paying
the duty incurred for excess profits made, or paying the tax on
income, they aim at securing a profit which enables them to
pay these taxes and still have a larger profit than ever. That
is not true of every business firm, for some businesses have
suffered a reduction of profits, but it is the fairly general rule
to-day. It is, moreover, dictated by a long estabhshed and
vicious principle that taxes are to be " passed on," a principle
which relieves the very people whom a particular tax is designed
to reach. When the list of dutiable goods was so comprehensive as
at the beginning of the nineteenth century (the list comprised
some 1,200 articles), the working people were bound to suffer
most, because every necessary of Ufe was included in the hst ;
and, indeed, it is accepted that the wage-earners of that time
suffered most severely.
Wages were low and hours were long. The competitive
struggle for profits compelled employers to get the last ounce
of energy out of their workers at the lowest possible wage.
Machinery was new, and the owners of patents would not forgo
their fees, which made the machinery pretty costly. But the
manufacturers were compelled to use the latest machinery to
keep up the output, and, involved in that expenditure, they were
forced to economise in other directions. The easiest course for
them, when combination was illegal, was to drop wages or to
keep wages low in new works. The factories were set up where
suppUes of labour were greatest, and, therefore, cheapest.
Child labour was exploited shamelessly. The children were
brought from poorhouses to supply the needs of the factories,
and were worked UteraUy to death or deformity or invalidity.
Even employers who had reputations for sincere benevolence
thought it consistent with their Christianity to keep young
children working day after day for twelve hours.
Such conditions foster the germs of the old social trouble
known to-day imder the new name of " Labour Unrest." The
Clyde weavers of the end of the eighteenth century were as
stiurdy defenders of their rights as the Clyde engineers of the
twentieth century are of theirs. The manufacturers, to whom
the weavers sold their productions, introduced a new scale of
pajTments in 1787, so that those who think the idea of collective
bargaining is new are under some Uttle misconception of the
THE EX-PRESIDENT
THE DOYEN OF THE SERVICE
ROBERT MACINTOSH, J.P., Accountant
Entered the Service as a Clerk in April 1870
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 17
past. The new scale meant a serious reduction to the weavers,
and, despite the fact that they were probably the best paid
artisans in the comitry,* the prospect of a reduction so incensed
them that they struck work. It was not simply a case of
" downing tools." They made hostile demonstrations against
those manufacturers who were believed to be chiefly responsible
for the reduction ; but they also raided the workshops of such
weavers as were content to take the reduction calmly. Webs
were cut from the looms. The webs were deposited in heaps
in the streets and burned. It was a wild proceeding ; but it was
indicative of the desperation of the men. MiUtary forces were
called to the suppression of the disorder ; the Riot Act was read,
but the strikers refused to disperse, and they began an attack
upon the soldiers with stones and bottles. The order to fire was
given to the soldiers, and three of the strikers were killed and
others were injured ;t and, at the burial of the victims a few
days later, there was a renewal of the outburst attended by
further fatahties. It was an early ebullition of zeal on the part
of desperate men, who were probably the pioneers of coUectivist
action among the working-classes in Glasgow. The position of
the weavers improved sUghtly for some little time afterwards ;
but after a while the position of the men grew worse and worse,
and work which could bring the weaver thirty-two shiUings and
sixpence in 1806, brought him no more than ten shillings when
the Napoleonic war bill began to be paid. By 1830 the weaver
was more badly off still, and his wages had dwindled down to
between eight and nine shiUings. We get a gUmpse of the
weaving factory as it then was in an interesting Uttle publication
to which reference is made in the next chapter. One contributor
, to this, describing the place and its conditions, wrote : |
" Through the caprice of the manager and dampness of the place,
it is very unwholesome ; and, to crown aU, such heavy fines
are imposed upon us for no offence that the situation which some
time ago was tolerable, is now rendered miserable." Again, §
the same writer (himself a " wabster ") observed : " The
managers of these factories may be compared to whips in the
hands of the proprietors, calculated only for the purpose of
* British Association 1901 meeting : " Handbook of Industries."
t Cleland's " Annals."
X Herald to the Trades' Advocate, 6th November 1830.
^Ibid. 18th December 1830.
B
18 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
lashing the poor, dandy weaver to his labour." The factory so
described was in Glasgow. A Lanark weaver, by dint of hard
labour, could earn seven shUUngs per week on an average. Of
that income two shiUings had to be deducted for rent of his
house and loom, a shilling more had to go for fuel and light, and
four shillings remained for food for the weaver, his wife, and his
family of juveniles.*
A shoemaker's reward for making a pair of shoes was nominally
three shillings, but there were deductions for " material," which
left him with but two. Cloth lappers worked under conditions
that were slavish. Their wages varied between fourteen and
eighteen shiUings per week for good workmen, but their usual
hours were from 6 a.m. till 8 p.m., and, at the time of which we
write, there was trouble in Glasgow because at one factory the
men had had to work eighteen hours per day for five days, for
which " week " they received five days' pay. One witness
testifies to having seen the whip in regular use in one estabhsh-
ment in Glasgow, " lashing boys and young men." Coal-hewers
in the Johnstone district worked from fourteen to sixteen hours
per day for wages varying from nine to ten shillings per week.
In one factory the employees were compelled to work half an hour
extra each day in order to pay for the gas light used in the
premises. Hammermen, whose work was certainly laborious,
were paid fourteen shillings per week in some districts, although
the wage for these men in Glasgow was a guinea.
The cotton mills were notorious for the bad conditions of
labour in England, and they were no better in Scotland. The
first cotton mill in Scotland was erected at Penicuik in 1778 ;
the following year a second was estabUshed at Rothesay, and
mills at Barrhead, Johnstone, Catrine, Doune, and Lanark were
among the earhest to follow. Among other classes of workers
wages were also deplorable. A labourer's wage was about seven
shiUings per week. A miUwright averaged about ten, masons
got about eleven, copper-plate printers commanded between
seventeen and twenty shiUings, block-printers were paid from
four to six shiUings per week. Food prices were constantly
rising. Between the middle of the eighteenth century and the
period to which we have recently been referring (circa 1830), the
prices of many essential articles were trebled and — as we have
* Herald to the Trades' Advocate, 25th December 1830,
HARDSHIPS OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE 19
seen in some cases — ^wages fell. The prices charged and the
profits earned were described in an interesting fashion in the
Herald to the Trades' Advocate, by " An Auld Weaver."*
" The cloth merchant will sell us a hat, and only charge for handing
it over the counter about three times as much as one of our number
■will get for making three. ... If we go to purchase a stuff gown
once in the year for our wife and daughter, the shopkeeper — for
measuring eight or nine yards of it, which ought not to occupy five
minutes — will take as much for his trouble as we will get for toiling
hard for thirty hours. . . . The staff of life is enhanced by the
iniquitous Corn Bill, but it is doubly so by the profits of the master
baker, the master grain merchant, the roguish miller, etc. The best
flour, notwithstanding this obnoxious law and the extravagance of
the aristocracy, could be produced for 36/ per bag under proper
arrangements, and baked for 5/, which could give us a fine quartern
loaf at 6d. In many parts, where it is baked into smallbread, it costs
us about I3d. per quartern loaf. How inconsistent, quietly to submit
to a few individuals who tax us on this first necessary of life to the
amount of 100 per cent, and upwards, and yet make such a cry out
against the Government, who do not tax it above 5 per cent. ! . .
If we want a bone to make a drop of broth on Sunday, the distributors
have the cheek to ask 2^d. . . . Tobacco yields a profit of 30 per
cent, and upwards, joining the profits of the master and distributor.
This is effected by adulterating the tobacco with copperas and water,
in order to make it a good black, but in reality to make it heavier."
The " auld weaver's " logic has carried the world of labour
into many wise movements, and this particular " auld weaver "
drew no exaggerated picture. Employer ^ and shopkeeper
attempted to squeeze all they could out of the victim of the
enterprise. The employers were not content with their fair
share of the loot, and many sought to grab the shopkeeper's
share also by introducing the Truck Shop as part of the works
estabUshment, and compelling the workers to purchase there
whatever necessaries they could afford. The workers had no
redress, because, if they complained, they had to leave ; and it
appeared to be better to stay and be fleeced, than to go and
starve ; but many both stayed and starved. The shopkeepers,
on the other hand, were no better than the employers, for dis-
honesty was rife, and many of the people were tied by debt to
shopkeepers whom they knew to be dishonest ; and, as we have
already seen, the workers were deprived by law of the power of
combination, which was in later years to become so effective
an instrument for the redressing of wrongs which, it will be
admitted, called out in anguish for redress.
* 4th December 1830.
II.
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND GROWTH OF THE
MOVEMENT TILL i860.
SEEKING FOR RELIEF THE FENWICK ENTERPRISE AND OTHER EARLY
EFFORTS — BRIDGETON AND LENNOXTOWN PIONEERS OF THE
DIVIDEND SYSTEM CO-OPERATIVE BAKERIES, 1800-15, KEEP DOWN
BREAD PRICES — -OWBN's PLACE IN THE MOVEMENT ALEXANDER
CAMPBELL, PROPAGANDIST SCOTLAND'S FIRST CO-OPERATIVE
JOURNAL PROJECTED SCHEMES OF PRODUCTIVE CO-OPERATION
CO-OPERATIVE EFFORT OF TRADE UNIONISTS THE ROCHDALE SYSTEM
ANTICIPATED ROCHDALE AND OWENISM THE ADVANCE FROM 1844.
Placed as the people were during those years, they had every
incentive to " explore every avenue " leading towards emancipa-
tion. The poUtical way out did not seem to appeal to very
many at first, because the reins of electoral power had been so
tightly held by those in authority that the prospect of working-
men voting for members of Parhament seemed hke "a funny
dream " to the generality of workers, just as " votes for women "
did to some of our leading statesmen before the war-drum caUed
the women to the factories and the field. In 1793 there were
twenty Parliamentary members returned by Scottish counties
with no more than 100 voters, ten were returned by counties
with no more than 250 voters, and fifteen members were returned
for fifteen burghs with no more than 125 voters. The number
of county voters in aU Scotland was 2,624, and the largest county
was Ayrshire with a voting strength of 220; while the total number
of burgh electors was 1,289. In Edinburgh, which had a
population of over 100,000, thirty-three persons had the election
of a member of Parhament.* Men knew this kind of thing was
not right, but the Combination Laws described in the foregoing
chapter made it a penal offence to say so in a crowd. This
part of the world then — even, perhaps, as now — ^was not " safe
for democracy." For twenty-five years before 1795 there had
* " St Mungo's Bells," by A. G. Gallant.
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 21
not been a meeting in Edinburgh at which politics fonned the
theme of the discourse. Thomas Muir kindled the torch of the
Reform movement in 1792, but his guerdon was a fourteen
years' banishment sentence,* and the first fruits of his agitation
did not come to Scotland till the Reform Act of 1833, which
many regarded as the acme of enfranchisement for the workers.
Economic emancipation by direct Parliamentary action was,
therefore, beyond the hopes of unenfranchised workers. The
Combination Laws were repealed in 1825, but the right of public
assembly was not asserted till the passing of the Reform Act ;
and, for many years after, many of the purposes served by the
Combination Laws could be effected by wilful misinterpretation
of judicial prerogatives.
Under these circumstances, at any rate till 1825, the workers
could not hope for economic emancipation by means of trade
unionism any more than by poUtical action. To have estabhshed
a Co-operative society with modem Co-operative ideals, or with
such a modified programme as the British Co-operative Congress
had adhered to prior to the Swansea gathering of 1917, would
have been illegal, and might have been accounted seditious.
Besides that, the ideal had not dawned upon the people till the
nineteenth century was well begun. The workers and their
families were faced with a very simple but extremely serious
problem — viz., How to procure the bare essentials of Ufe when
the said bare essentials are only procurable at a sum greater
than the wages available. The non-essentials had been dropped
out of the working-class menu and wardrobe ; and the modest
furnishings of the home showed the same vigorous economy — for
the same room served the purposes of kitchen and boudoir,
drawing-room and bedroom, dining-room and wash-house,
birth chamber and mortuary. The whole trouble was to procure
the barest essentials. The working-people could not work more
than was humanly possible ; they could not compel the employers
to pay better wages, and, as we have seen, the employers were
gradually paying lower wages ; they could not compel the
retailers to sell at lower prices, and, as we have also seen, the
prices were rising. The workers gradually observed that the
retailer's stocks had to be purchased, and that the retailer must
* This sentence was pronounced by the notorious Lord Braxfield,
part of whose estate David Dale purchased for his New Lanark experiment.
22 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
purchase them at a price below that at which he sold. It seems
a simple process of reasoning to us when trade unionism has
reduced the length of the working day, and the Education Acts
have prescribed that all must be educated. The inspiration
came more slowly to men working excessive hours, and whose
non-working hours were filled with care and worry, and financial
Worry at that. The simple process devised was to make an
effort to secure goods at the same prices as the retailers paid for
their stocks. We cannot tell how early the workers began to
resort to this method, but the Fenwick Weavers' Society, to
which reference is made in the " Foreword," left authentic
documentary evidence to prove that they had put the method
into practice successfully for about thirty years. The society
is described in "Matthew Fowlds and Fenwick Worthies";*
and Mr Maxwell, in his " History of Co-operation in Scotland,"
has published the minutes of the meeting of the Fenwick
Weavers at which it was resolved to set up their co-operative
system of buying and seUing, and he has also given a tabular
statement of the money invested, and the profit and loss resulting,
each year from 1770 to 1800. The Weavers' Society existed,
notwithstanding the Combination Laws, because it was simply
a benevolent society, free from the taint of pohtical intent. The
Weavers' Comer, stiU to be seen at Fenwick, although now
adorned with one of His Majesty's letter-boxes, was to the
weavers of the village what the Craufurdland Bridge was to the
thinkers of Kilmarnock nearly a century later. There they used
to assemble and chat about everything that troubled them.
Where these men held their formal business meetings as a
society the writer has been unable to trace, despite a searching
visit paid to the place under the guardianship of Mr James
Deans, the secretary of the Scottish Section of the Co-operative
Union, who has a wonderful faculty for unearthing the oldest
inhabitant of almost any Ayrshire village, and, we may add,
who is himself weU known in every Ayrshire village. On 9th
November 1769 the members of the Weavers' Society decided
to take what money they had in their box and buy victuals to
sell to the society. The victuals consisted chiefly of oatmeal,
which the society bought at the wholesale price and distributed
to the members who wanted it. The rule was that, after paying
* See Appendix I.
DAVID DALE AND OWENITE ASSOCIATIONS
(1) David Dale's House, Glasgow.
(2) David Dale.
(3) Robert Owen.
(4) Mills and Village of New Lanark.
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ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 23
interest on the capital, and after paying the men for buying and
selling the victuals, the society would " reap the benefit or
sustain the loss." It would be of the greatest interest to learn
more of the methods of the society. What did it do with the
profits ? Did these " trading profits " go to the benevolent
objects of the Weavers' Society ? It is true the profits were not
great. The highest profit recorded for a single year is £4, is.,
and in one year there was a loss of £y, 5s. gd. ; so that it would
appear that profit -making was not aimed at. If the society
meant to use possible profits for the common good of the
members by supplementing benevolent funds from trade, even
to the limited extent the records of profit show, then we had
Owen's effort anticipated at Fenwick two years before Owen
was born. If the profit was only the incidental result of trying
to seU at the lowest price compatible with averting a loss, we still
have a system which compares with Sir Leo Chiozza Money's
description of co-operation as " working-men clubbing together to
do things for themselves." In either case, the Fenwick venture
put into practice a principle which present-day co-operators are
derided and impugned for advocating— viz., the principle of
" eUminating the middleman." They did it in a purely local
fashion and to a very hmited extent ; but the sphere and the
extent do not detract from the principle. No doubt similar
ventures were attempted and carried out elsewhere, but no
documentary evidence has been unearthed to prove the existence
of an earUer venture of the kind ; and so the Fenwick Society
must take pride of place as having established itself twenty-five
years before the MongeweU Co-operative Store, which George
Jacob Holyoake — ^who died before the Fenwick records were
found — ^regarded as the first known Co-operative venture.
Eight years later than the Fenwick Society, or in 1777, the
Govan Victualling Society was estabhshed. It struggled on
through one hundred and thirty-two years, but there seems to
be less known regarding its origin than is known of Fenwick.
The merging of Govan in the City of Glasgow will no doubt stir
up feelings of local patriotism if it be true, as a learned divine
said at a Co-operative Congress, that " true imperiaUsm begins
at the parish piunp," and that local patriotism may inculcate
in Govan natives a fondness for old Govan traditions and
institutions, which will lead to the discovery of some of the old
24 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
records of the Victualling Society. In that case we may learn
more of the methods and objects of its founders than we know
at present. The demise of the society in 1909 transferred from
Govan to Bridgeton the distinction of having the oldest
Co-operative society in the world. The Bridgeton Victualling
Society — now the Bridgeton Old Victualling Society — came into
existence in 1800, but of its early methods we know as httle as
we do of the Govan Society. For some years it stood alone as
the only Glasgow Co-operative Society trading in intoxicants.
That trade had always been a barrier in the way of an amalgama-
tion of societies in the East End of Glasgow. That is perhaps an
irrelevant observation to make here ; but the only purpose the
writer has in making it is to suggest that if, in the near future,
the societies in the east of Glasgow do unite to form one, the
name of the Bridgeton Old VictuaUing should be preserved
somehow on accoimt of the antiquity of the society.
While the absence of records makes a study of these early
Co-operative ventures almost impossible, it is fortunate that the
Lennoxtown Friendly VictuaUing Society affords an opportunity
for judging more clearly the purpose of its founders. The
society was estabhshed in 1812, and its minute-books since
1826 are in excellent preservation. The writer has pored over
those old minutes with interest, and their impUcations have
been set forth in the society's Centenary History. The society
is now part and parcel of the Co-operative " federation of the
world," being linked up with other societies in the Co-operative
Union, the Wholesale Society, and the International Co-operative
AUiance ; it espouses all the ideals of Co-operation as they are
propagated to-day ; but in 1812 it had no ideals. Its members
had other things to think of besides ideals. They shared with
their compeers the struggle for existence, and the struggle in
the Parish of Campsie was peculiarly bitter. The members
wanted food, and they " clubbed together " to get it at a price
within their reach. While later societies adopted the principle
of dividing their profits on the capital of the members, thus
" helping the capitaUst " as we would say to-day, the Lennox-
town people saw that there was something wrong there, and,
under certain conditions, the rules declared the profits should
be divided in proportion to purchases. What the actual
practice was, or how it worked out, is a little obscure, because
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 25
of the wording of the minute ; but the fact stands out that the
principle of dividing profits upon purchases was recognised,
although the rules provided an alternative method. In Lennox-
town there was difficulty in keeping the society going, because
the Truck system operated at the bleachfields ; workers had
to purchase goods at the works' store, and so they could only
purchase very little from the co-operative store. The result
was that the membership was very Hmited, and, after fourteen
years' trading, its roll only included about sixty-five names.
Prior to Waterloo there were in existence numerous
Co-operative baking societies, which did their business on the
non-dividend system and rendered admirable service. We
cannot trace their names, and it seems that they were estabUshed
by people a Uttle above the financial level of the ordinary
worker ; but their method was apparently similar to that of the
Fenwick Society. The records of the magistracy of Glasgow
give authentic evidence of their existence, while their system
is outHned in Cleland's " Annals," to which we have already
referred. In 1758 an Act had been passed for regulating in
England " the Assize and Price of Bread." That Act did not
apply to Scotland, but its provisions were extended to the
Northern Kingdom by an Act of 1784. The Act authorised the
Magistrates and Justices of the Peace to regulate " the price
and assize of bread, and to punish persons who shall adulterate
meal, flour, and bread." The last assize was fixed in December
1809, when it was ordained, infer alia, that the quartern loaf
should weigh 4 lbs. 5 oz. 8 dr., and that the half-quartern should
weigh 2 lbs. 2 oz. 12 dr. ; the price of the quartern wheaten loaf
was fixed at 1/8, and of the quartern " household " loaf, 1/3.
These were prices to which bread did not rise in Scotland in the
great war which is now being brought to a close ; and, since
1800, prices were not fixed by law in Scotland till the ninepenny
subsidised loaf was introduced. The magistrates assembling
in 1801 decided not to fix a price again in Glasgow, but they
stipulated that the weight of the loaf should remain, and they
had power to impose penalties for reduction of the weight.
In Edinburgh and Perth and other places nearer the wheat-
growing districts, the price of the loaf y/as lower, even if only
slightly, than in Glasgow, which had to pay carriage on its wheat ;
but it is recorded that the public had to pay more for their
26 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
quartern loaf when no assize was set. The case is a century-old
parallel to the experience of the people during the great war,
for it has been evident that till the Government, somewhat
tardily, controlled prices there has been a tendency for the prices
to go up, although, in some cases. Government control of
supplies, without control of prices, has also been followed by a
rise in prices. The part played by the Co-operative baking
societies of 1800-1815 is described in Cleland's " Annals " in
language which makes the tribute aU the more valuable because
it came from one who was not influenced by the publicity such
as is given to Co-operative enterprises and Co-operative aims to-
day; and so we cannot do better than quote the reference in fuU : —
" BaMng societies have beea established in the suburbs (of
Glasgow) who uniformly sell their bread one penny, twopence, and
sometimes even threepence or fourpence, on the quartern loaf, lower
than the bakers' prices. From this statement it would seem, at first
sight, that tb-e rate at which the bakers sell their bread is higher than
what is exactly necessary to secure a fair profit ; this, however, is not
the case, for the bakers are on an equal footing with the societies who
do not seU to any person but to their own members ; they give no
credit, and receive neither profit from the concern nor interest on
their capital ; besides, the members, having no partner to superintend
the concern, are particularly subjected to the risk of loss, incident
to the breach of trust in their servants."
We are guided in our view that these societies were conducted
by those above the working-class level by the indication given,
in a subsequent reference, to the fact that they baked no coarse
bread, and no loaf less than the quartern ; but even that does
not destroy their Co-operative character, and it only goes to
show that even the better-off people found it desirable to economise
where and how they could during those trying times. Never-
theless, the fact that these societies (by which is dearly meant
the members) " received neither profit from the concern nor
interest on their capital " is one that some Co-operators with
" reforming " tendencies will no doubt note with interest. In
1821 Larkhall VictuaUing Society, which stiU flourishes, came
into being because a number of the inhabitants (according to
the society's articles) viewed " with serious concern the many
disadvantages they are under in purchasing the necessaries of
life," and the society was constituted " for the sole purpose of
purchasing different articles and necessaries of life at the first
markets, and retaihng them at the lowest possible terms." It
PIONEERS OF THE S.C.W.S.
JOHN M'lNNES (Top) and JAMES BORROWMAN, late photograph (Bottom)
EARLY ENGLISH AND WELSH HELPERS
(1) Abraham Greenwood, first C.W.S. president, who gave valuable help to the
promoters of the S. C.W.S. (2) J. C. Edwards, secretary and cashier of the C.W.S. , who
attended two of the preliminary delegate meetings in 1865-66. (3^ Josei'H Woouie of
London, founder of the Christian Socialist Wholesale Agency in 1850, and who bought goods
for the two Wholesales in their early yenrs. The others represented were speakers at the
celeljration of the opening of the first Paisley Road warehouse, September 1873. They are
(4) G. J. HoLYOAKE as he then was; (5) James Cbabtree, second C.W.S. president;
(6) Li.OYD Jones, an Owenite in 1832; and (7) William Nuttall, secretary of the
Co-operative Congress.
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 27
■was a laudable object, but, still, as in the case of many other
societies in those early years of Co-operative experiment, there
was nothing in the methods of the society to suggest that the
members had anything that could be called idealism or that
they were taking what might be called " a long view." Idealism
was to come with the rising of a new influence, and that new
influence was Robert Owen.
Around the name of Owen there have raged many controversies
with which we are not concerned here. We have only to con-
sider briefly how his experiments affected the popular vision,
or, to be more correct, created a popular vision and influenced
the men who set up the Co-operative organisation as we know
it to-day in Scotland. Owen, bom in 1771, had only a poor
education when he went to work with a London draper, at the
age of ten ; but the use wliich he was allowed to make of his
employer's library was of the greatest service to him, and when
he was nineteen he was the manager of a Manchester cotton
miU, with 500 employees under his control. At Manchester
" he effected a most happy change in the habits and conditions
of the working-people in the establishment ; but so little to the
detriment of the proprietors that they raised his salary to three,
four, and five hundred pounds a year ; and they desired him
to name his own terms if he would continue to superintend their
workpeople, whose health, education, and comforts he had
improved, while he had diminished the length of their day's
work."* A partnership was promised, but the prospective
son-in-law of the millowner objected, and Owen left the mill.
He entered into partnership with two others, and in pursiiit of
business he visited Glasgow, where he met David Dale, for whom
Dale Street in Tradeston and Dale Street in Biidgeton, Glasgow,
are named. Dale, in his way, was as remarkable as Owen.
Dale was a herd-boy at Stewarton, near Kilmarnock, and he
became a weaver at Paisley, Hamilton, and Cambuslang. He
went to Glasgow to try his luck there. Countless thousands
have regarded the Broomielaw as the threshold of prosperity ;
but few fared so well as David Dale. He became a linen dealer,
and set up a little import trade in yams. His next venture was
as a millowner, and while engaged in that trade as Campbell, f
♦Lord Brougham in the House of Lords, 15th March 1853.
t Campbell was Mrs Dale's maiden name.
28 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Dale, & Co., he was also a manufacturer of printing cloth, under
the name of Dale, Campbell, Raid & Dale.* He combined with
Sir Richard Arkwright to set up a great cotton mill at New
Lanark. The ground was secured in 1784, the foundation stone
of the first building was laid in 1785, and in 1786 spinning was
commenced. These mills were the largest cotton mills in
Scotland, and were at one time the largest in Great Britain.
The Blant5n:e nulls were also his, and he was extensively engaged
in industrial enterprise in various parts of Scotland. His wealth
grew, and yet Dale was a philanthropist who simply shovelled
out his money. In what were described as " the terrible years,"
between 1782 and 1799, when meal rose to 21/4 per boU, he
chartered ships and imported great quantities of grain to be
sold cheaply to the poor people. To run the great cotton mills
he actually founded the village of New Lanark on ground bought
from the Braxfield estate. The place prospered from the pro-
prietor's point of view, an addition to the mill was built in 1788,
and by 1794 the whole estabhshment employed 1,300 hands.
Much of his labour was imported. Dale acted in a benevolent
sort of way to his workers — ^benevolent, at least, for that period.
Robert Owen, as we have said, was deeply interested in the
welfare of the workers under his control at Manchester. When
his intimacy with the Dale family grew (he married Miss Dale)
he visited the mills at New Lanark. He was impressed with
the responsibility of employers, and particularly impressed with
a report submitted to a Manchester committee by a friend of
his own. Dr. Perceival. Dr. Perceival complained of the injurious
nature of factory Ufe, and of the long hours of work to which
the children particularly were subjected. The prevaiUng
conditions, according to Dr. Perceival, not only tended to
diminish future expectations as to the general sum of hfe and
industry by impairing the strength and destroying the vital
stamina of the rising generation, but to give encouragement to
idleness, extravagance, and profligacy in the parents, "who,
contrary to the order of nature, subsisted by the oppression
of their offspring." Under the prevailing conditions, people
were growing up physically and mentally stunted, living in
overcrowded houses wherein human relationship and family
order were disturbed, suffering from the effects of excessive
* " St Mungo's BeUs."
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 29
labour, David Dale had the best intentions, but he lived in
Glasgow, his mills were at New Lanark, and railways did not
exist, so that the owner of the mills was generally absent, his
personal influence was missed, and conditions at New Lanark
rapidly grew to be as bad as the conditions of factory life elsewhere.
So Owen found them. He saw in this isolated community,
surrounded by all the grandeur of nature at its loveliest, an
opportunity of putting into practice ideas which he could only
carry out in a limited fashion at Manchester. He discussed the
situation with David Dale, and, eventually, he was able to form
a company which bought the mills and installed him as manager.
Owen entered upon the management of the miUs in 1800, on
New Year's Day. He saw that vice was common, but he felt
that he would be doing no lasting good by sending those away
who were causing trouble. He took up his residence among the
people, and assuined the role of benevolent despot, if that term
be not too hard. He took the responsibility of foster-father to
the whole community. His first resolve was that no more
poorhouse children would be brought to New Lanark, where
there were already about 400 or 500 of them being exploited
despite David Dale's benevolence. He proceeded to influence
.legislation in favour of the restriction of the hours of child labour,
a reform in which he encountered opposition even from well-
intentioned people, who deprecated, any attempt to interfere
with freedom of contract between master and servant. The
mills were overhauled in order that the surroundings of the
workers might be made brighter ; machinery was improved
so that the workers might be made safer. The tjrrannical
methods of the overseers were suppressed, prosecutions were
abandoned (even for theft), and the people were taught to realise
that crime did not lie in being found out, but in its commission.
When a scarcity of raw cotton brought many mills to a stand-
still in 1806, the workers at New Lanark were kept on to clean
machinery and make alterations. The stoppage of production
lasted for four months, but nobody lost a penny of wages at New
Lanark, and the situation was something new and original.
It established Owen among the people, however ; and, there-
after, his influence increased enormously. His partners grumbled
because they did not like such methods, but the work done was
more than ever, and the mills were more profitable than ever.
30 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Mr James Deans, in a memorable inaugural address at the
Co-operative Congress of 1913, urged that the aim of Co-operative
employers should be to make Co-operative employees feel that
" their jobs were too good to lose." That was how the New
Lanark mill-workers felt under Robert Owen's scheme. David
Dale had made arrangements for educating the children
employed at the mill when their day's work was over ; Robert
Owen thought that was no time to attempt to educate children,
and he set up a school where they could be taught before going
to work at all. His proposal to spend £5,000 on this scheme
led to further trouble for Owen, trouble which he only overcame
by buying his partners out of the business. Several times
similar troubles arose, but he overcame them in the same way.
His school was one of the wonders of Europe. The children
were taught, in addition to the elementary subjects, natural
history and geography, singing and dancing, drill — and sewing
for the girls. In one year 20,000 visitors, including the Czar
Nicholas I., went to New Lanark to see the wonderful school ;
and those who went marvelled at the deportment, conduct, and
enlightenment of the young people of the village.* Social
evenings were arranged for the pleasure of the 'people. To
enable them to hve more comfortably, and at less expense, a
store was set up. It was not a Co-operative store. It was the
property of Robert Owen, and was managed by him. He bought
the goods in bulk and sold them at the lowest price, thus saving
the people 25 per cent, of what they paid formerly. Later, it
appears, the goods were sold at a profit, and the profit was
utilised to defray educational expenses. The work was going
on gloriously, but Owen's new partners objected to much of it ;
they objected to boys in kilts ; they objected to the dancing
being taught ; they objected to Owen because he was a
secularist ; and the continual worry, coupled with his com-
plete failure to come to terms with them, compelled him to
retire from the business after twenty-eight years.
Owen had shown " that by reducing the hours of labour, by
increasing the wages, by improving the factories, by educating
the people, by affording the young and old leisure and oppor-
tunity for social intercourse, by enabling them to secure their
* This is the agreed verdict of all serious commentators ou the New
Lanark scheme.
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 31
goods at 25 per cent, less than they formerly paid, and by his.
other beneficent measures, the people were made able and
willing to give better service ; that the quality of their work
improved ; that culture and refinement took the place of vice
and ignorance ; and, strangest of all, that people became anxious,
for higher planes of culture, and more eager to improve the
common lot."* People saw the great possibihties for themselves.
While at New Lanark Owen began to publish The Economist to
propagate his ideas. He was rapidly surrounded by disciples-
ready to aid him in the carrying out of his ideas. People saw
what he had done out of the profits of trade, and they began,
to estabUsh Co-operative societies, not simply because of the
burden of the cost of Uving, as had been the case at Fenwick
and Bridgeton and Lennoxtown, but to supply themselves with
their requirements, and to utihse the proceeds of their trade for
the same ameliorative purposes as he had carried out at New
Lanark. The New Lanark experiment had opened up a new
hope for the people. For miles around Glasgow, Alexander
Campbell became the most ardent apostle of Owenism. Some
societies were formed which did not seek his aims ; but by 1831
there were 313 Co-operative societiesf throughout the country
more or less pledged to his aims. Writing from the Co-operative-
Bazaar, 42 London Street, Glasgow, to Mr Littlejohn, M.P.
for Staffordshire, Alexander Campbell explained the aims of the-
Co-operative societies as he knew them : —
" These societies were generally composed of the working-classes ;
and their capital, held in small shares, payable by instalments, is-
to be applied to the following objects : — The purchasing at wholesale-
prices such articles of daily consumption as the members require,
and retailing them out to them and o-thers, at the usual retail price,
adding all profits to the stock for the further object of giving employ-
ment to members who may be either out of work, or otherwise-
inefficiently employed, and thereby still increasing their capital to
obtain their ultimate object — the possession of land, the erection
of comfortable dwellings and asylums for the aged and infirm, and
seminaries of learning for all — ^but more especially for the formation
of a superior character for their youth, upon the principles of the-
new society as propounded by Robert Owen."J
* International Co-operative Congress Handbook, 1913, by J. A. F.
t These societies were all in correspondence with the British Associationi
or Promoting Co-operative Knowledge.
■^ Herald to the Trades' Advocate, 12th February 1831.
32 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
There are the ideals of the Co-operative societies of that
period expressed. They were ideals that had not originated till
Robert Owen made his experiments, and they were ideals that
had not been propagated till the results of his experiments
showed the working-people what they might do for themselves.
Rev. Thomas Gordon, of Falkirk, addressing a Co-operative
propaganda meeting in the Mechanics' Institute, Glasgow, on
29th September 1830, declared that the objects of Co-operation
were to secure to the working-classes all the profits of their
industry without violating the laws of the coimtry. They were
to sell to members of their societies, not to divide but to accumu-
late their property, buy land, build houses, employ themselves,
and apply the profits of the funds to the benefit of every man and
woman. " What," said Mr Alexander Campbell at the same
meeting, " wUl it signify what kind of Government you can
obtain, if the present competitive system contiuues ? . . .
The people must now act for themselves ; they have too long
prayed and petitioned others for that which is within their own
power." At a subsequent meeting of tradesmen Mr Campbell
advocated that the vote, for which men were then clamouring,
should be extended to women — a plea that was greeted with
laughter* — ^but he impressed upon the audience that no plan of
electoral reform would benefit the working-classes unless they
themselves would, by uniting, retain the produce of their labour.
In another speech he was arguing that in a world run on Co-
operative principles there could be no war — an evil from which
the people suffered even in 1830 and 1831, when the second
French Revolution was in progress, and a " scrap of paper," now
historic, was about to be signed.
There is a general consensus of opinion that most of the
societies that had existed prior to this made it their practice to
divide the profits, as the manufacturers did, on the capital the
members had invested. Alexander Campbell propagated the
system known as the Rochdale system in 1822, twenty-two years
before the Rochdale Pioneers Society. Campbell claimed that
he had done so.f even after the distinction was claimed for
Rochdale. Campbell's own society — the Glasgow Co-operative
Bazaar — did not divide its profits in that way. Its method, and
* Herald to the Trades' Advocate, 12th March 1831.
t See Records of Social Science Congresses.
THE TWO GENERAL MANAGERS
(1) James Borrowman (early photograph). (2) Jumes Marshall.
SURVIVORS OF THE ORIGINAL BOARD
Mr ALEX. MELDBUM, Director in 1868 and President in 1871, and
Mr RICHARD LEES, Director in 1868, lived to see the Wholesale's Jubilee.
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 33
the method adopted by the Tradeston Society, which was also
in existence in 1830, was to add all profits to stock — by which
was meant capital — so that, with all their deficiencies, these
old Co-operators had begun to see the value of " impersonal
capital " to which no individual could lay claim. Campbell,
however, was a persistent advocate of payment of dividend on
purchases, so that the profits should be allocated to those whose
trade created them. Charles Howarth, of Rochdale, is credited
South of the Border with having been the invent r of this system,
and it is doubtful if full justice has been done to Campbell.*
The aims of the Co-operators did not stop at distributive
trade. Meetings of tradesmen were being held all over Scotland
for the purpose of forming unions which would not only preserve
wages, but which would organise subscriptions which would
enable the unions to employ their members. Goods produced
by the members of one union were to be sold or exchanged to
the members of other unions ; and, in that way, the workers
hoped to derive the " full profits of their labour." We have
before us in the Herald to the Trades' Advocate reports of the
countless meetings of workmen held to discuss such projects.
The little journal we refer to was only the pioneer of what was
intended to be a Co-operatively owned and controlled newspaper.
It was owned by the trade societies in existence. The Glasgow
Co-operative Bazaar Society and the Tradeston Co-operative
Society were both part owners of it. The Herald was to pave
the way for the Trades Advocate and Co-operative Journal in
Glasgow ; a similar paper was being issued by the Belfast
Co-operative Society, the secretary of which (James Kennedy),
writing to the Glasgow Co-operative Society on 21st December
1830, described the Herald and the projected Advocate as " the
first systematic attempt on the part of the people to tell their
own story." The pages of this, little weekly journal contain
frequent reference to the misrepresentations of the workers'
cause published in the Glasgow Herald and Courier and in the
Scotsman.
♦Mr William Nuttall, in 1870, discovered that the Meltham Mills
Society, which was established ia 1827, had divided profits in proportion
to the purchases from the very beginning. Comprehensive details of the
society, including members' purchases and dividends, appeared in the
Co-operative News in 1871. Neither Campbell nor Howarth appear to
have known of the society or its methods.
c
34 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
All these efforts show to what an extent Co-operative thought
was developing among the people. In a general sort of way it
might be said that most of the individual Co-operators of the
period were pretty much inclined to RadicaUsm in politics, some
were thorough-paced Socialists after Owen's heart, but some —
who were in accord with the idea of using their collective power
for their common good — ^were not followers of Owen's theories
in full. Nevertheless, in nearly every, case, the society was open
to all who cared to join, and the Herald to the Trades' Advocate
urged that none should be debarred by the introduction of
" metaphysical " questions in the societies. One notable
exception to the general rule was the Hawick Society, established
in 1839, which for a considerable time would admit no member
who was not a Chartist. All these early societies were without
any connecting link except the common bond of similarity, of
purpose. A Congress was held in Manchester in 1830, which
may be regarded as the first step in welding these isolated
societies into a common movement. The societies that existed
were small, chiefly because the sharing of profits according to
capital operated unfairly against the poor man with the large
family and the large purchases, and in favour of the more
prosperous man with small purchases and with capital to spare.
The Himgry Forties aggravated the anxieties of the people.
The weavers of Rochdale, to whom Howarth propounded the
idea of dividing profits according to purchases, so that the larger
purchasers would have the larger share, adopted the scheme
and formulated it in the code of rules governing the Rochdale
Pioneers' Society established in 1844, and so the system became
known as the Rochdale system. It had a wonderful effect on the
working-classes. It promised a fixed rate of remuneration for
capital used in the society's business, and gave to the purchasers
the profits that remained, each receiving in proportion to the
amount of purchases. The profits so earned were to augment
the capital of the society when members could afford to allow
their share to He in the funds ; and, with the capital so accumu-
lated, the Rochdale weavers proclaimed it their intention "to
proceed to arrange the powers of production, distribution,
education, and govenunent ; or, in other words, to establish
a self-supporting home colony of united interests or assist other
societies in establishing such colonies." We find it difl&cult tp
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 35
distinguish between these ideals and Robert Owen's, Societies
in existence rapidly changed their methods when they saw the
success that attended the Rochdale experiment of " sales at
market price, cash trading, and profit in proportion to purchases."
It gave these societies a wonderful stimulus. Members were
able to subscribe the necessary instalments of capital in small
sums. People willingly paid the Co-operative price because
they knew the committees who regulated prices for the store
had no interest in fixing them at a higher level than necessary ;
and they knew also that, if the society made a large profit,, the
share of profit credited to them would be large in proportion
to their purchases.- Philanthropists patted the Rochdale
Pioneers on the back ; here and there local employers encouraged
the people to form societies to carry on their little experiments
in shopkeeping. Many of these patrons only saw the httle
struggUng shop, served sometimes by the committeemen in
their turns, and they could not visualise the great movement
which is now in being, far though Co-operation may yet be
from its avowed goal,
A combination of circumstances aided the movement. The
Chartist movement, which began in 1838 and was carried on for
ten years with remarkable vigour, failed in its immediate purpose,
which was to secure^ — (i) Manhood suffrage ; (2) equal electoral
districts ; (3) vote by ballot ; (4) annual Parliaments ; (5)
abolition of property quaUfication for members of Parliament ;
and (6) payment of members of ParUament, If it failed, how-
ever, it had created a great wave of democratic thought and
political enthusiasm among the working-classes. PoUtics then
had an economic aspect even as to-day. The working-men did
not want votes for the sake of having them ; they wanted them
so that they could use them to influence social conditions; industrial
conditions, and economic conditions. Many of the most enthus-
iastic Chartists were Co-operators, and many of the Co-operatojs
in existing Societies became Chartists, Chartists, for instance,
helped to estabUsh the Rochdale Pioneers Society, but some
of the Lennoxtown Co-operators hplped to plant Chartism
in their district. While the Chartist agitation collapsed, its
enthusiasm was so great ■ that it influenced the growth
of other popular movements, among them the Co-operative
movement ; but its enthusiasm was . so great, also, _ as
36 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
to influence the Government to recognise that something had
to be conceded to working-class clamour. It is an experience
that we have all observed, that enactments are sometimes
wrung from Legislatures as much because of Ministerial alarm
as because of the justice of the demand. It so happened that
the year which saw the estabhshment of the Rochdale Society
brought important factory legislation to the rehef of the
workers. In 1846 an amalgamation between trade societies
was made possible, the Com Laws were aboHshed, and the great
era of Free Trade was inaugurated. In the same year a Friendly
Societies Act recognised the legal status of societies estabhshed
by frugal investments to supply their members with certain
necessaries. Prior to that people joined such societies at their
own risk ; they had no redress against dishonest officials ; the
societies themselves had no protection in their corporate
capacity ; and landlords and merchants usually held an
individual responsible for rent or other Habihties. With these
new enactments, improving the hours of labour, wages, and
prices, people of the Working-class felt a new sense of relief.
About the same period the Christian Sociahsts were pursuing
their propaganda, and this movement brought to the aid of
Rochdale Co-operation another body of stalwart workers, which
included men Uke Judge Hughes, Edward Vansittart Neale,
Frederick Denison Maurice, J. M. Ludlow, and Charles Kingsley,
who spared neither time nor talents to further the cause of
Co-operation, with which they were in thorough sympathy.
The movement benefited during those years from the endeavours
of earnest Owenites and Chartists, as weU as from the efforts of
the Christian Sociahsts. It was to the legal knowledge and
personal influence of some of the Christian Sociahsts that was
due the passing of the first Industrial and Provident Societies
Act in 1852. This Act definitely recognised the pecuhar functions
and the wide aims of the Co-operative movement. It allowed
members to invest in these societies to the extent of £100 ; but
it specifically excluded banking from their operations, and
apphed other hmitations, the pressure of which was soon to be
felt. The passing of the Pubhc Libraries Acts in 1850 and 1855,
and the abohtion of " the tax on knowledge," as the newspaper
tax was called, in 1855, were measures that helped on the move-
ment very considerably. From 1844 the Rochdale Pioneers had
ADVENT OF CO-OPERATION AND ITS GROWTH 37
been setting aside part of their profit for the education of their
members, and other societies had followed their plan. To these
men the cheaper newspaper was a great boon.
Holyoake visited Scotland on frequent lecturing tours, and in
several places he explained the Rochdale system. His pubUshed
" History of Co-operation in Rochdale " also gave a fillip to
Co-operation in Scotland, but the description given by Robert
Chambers, in various publications in i860, gave the movement
a decided impetus. Men discussed the scheme, and agreed to
give it a trial. Societies sprang into existence all over the
country, and over a score of societies in Scotland were brought
into existence as a result of the Chambers's publications. The
societies in some cases had very humble beginnings ; their
methods were crude, and their efforts were sometimes painfully
unsuccessful. The " store " served the purposes of shop, office,
and boardroom. Committeemen had to assist behind the
counter at times. Their reward for superintending the business
of the society and safeguarding the mbney and interests of the
members was sometimes an ounce of tobacco per week ; but
they were men, on the whole, who justified the trust reposed
in them. Working-people realised that committees had no
interest in selling adulterated goods which they would have to
use, or in allowing in the store " tricks of the trade " which
might be practised upon themselves ; and so the movement
grew in favour with the people. This is a phase of Co-operative
history that falls to be dealt with in a later chapter, but its
influence at this early stage in Co-operative history was not
inconsiderable, and in the late 'fifties and in the early 'sixties
brought into existence some of the largest and most flourishing
of the Co-operative societies that exist to-day. It may be added,
also, that the general condition of the people had improved
very considerably during the first half of the centuty.*
* Mr George H. Wood, in the Wholesale Societies' " Annual " for
1901, stated that between 1790 and 1850 money wages increased about
41 per cent, while cost of living increased 33 per cent. — a gain of about
6 per cent, in " real wages," by which he meant " money wages corrected
by purchasing power."
III.
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION
AND AN ODD RESULT.
SOCIETIES SUFFER FROM ISOLATION HANDICAPPED IN THE MARKET-
PLACE VICTIMISED IN BUYING STEPS TOWARDS ASSOCIATION
THE ',' WHOLESALE " IDEA IN 1832 AND LATER PROJECTS REASONS
FOR THEIR FAILURE FEDERATION PREVENTED BY EXISTING LAWS-
FRATERNAL GATHERINGS IN 1862 A PROPHETIC UTTERANCE — CHANGING
THE LAW A GENEROUS LAWYER THE ACT OF 1862 AND THE
POSSIBILITIES IT OPENED UP— THE NORTH OF ENGLAND C.W.S.
ESTABLISHED- — WILES OF THE MEflCHANTS AND AN ATTEMPTED
BOYCOTT — PRIVATE TRADERS FOLLOW THE CO-OPERATIVE LEAD BUT
FAIL.
If we cast our minds back over the condition of the people
described in the last chapter, we will gather some facts which
we must. bear in mind in order to form a just appreciation of
early Victorian Co-operative efforts. Two outstanding facts
must be remembered particularly : (i) Compulsory Education
Acts were not in operation ; (2) the people had a bitter struggle
against himger and want. An obvious deduction is that the
general standard of education was low in comparison to what
it is in our own generation; and .the working-people who
managed the Co-operative, societies of the period were, to that
extent, handicapped in competition with those who began with
an education. Their poverty, apart from the educational
disadvantage, was a serious material handicap to -their progress
in Coroperative. trading. The savings that- their Co-operative
trading effected for them was a veritable boon.. The. capital
of the Co-operative societies represented the accumulated
shiUings, and more frequently the accumulated' coppers, of the
members. These small societies had to buy iii competition
with well-to-do shopkeepers from well-to-do merchants and
manufacturers, who could count upon, and who obtained, more
consideration from the Legislature than the working-people.
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 39
They had little expert knowledge of the quality of goods, and,
in consequence, they had to rely upon the honesty of their
providers. That was an inconstant virtue, and the trust of
the people — ^the. trust of the store committee^ — was often
betrayed. Business people nowadays are accustomed to resent
references to the dishonest trading which stimulated early
Co-operators to do their own business ; but facts do not warrant
that resentment. To quote a contemporary Co-operative writer
of the period would perhaps be of httle value ; but Chambers's
Encyclopcedia ought not to be considered a prejudiced witness.
This work* quotes a review, pubhshed in 1820, which reads :
" Devoted to disease by baker, butcher, grocer, wine merchant,
spirit dealer, cheesemonger, pastrycook, and confectioner, we
call in the phj^idan to our - assistance. But here again the
pernicious system of fraud, as it has given the blow, steps in
to defeat the remedy. The unprincipled dealer in drugs and
mec^cines exerts the most potent and diabolical ingenuity in
sophisticating the most potent and necessary drugs." From
the same authority we learn that an Inland Revenue officer
stated, in 1843, that there were beUeved to be eight factories
in London for the purpose of re-drying exhausted tea leaves
in London alone. These leaves, collected from hotels and
elsewhere, were soaked in gum, and treated variously, according
to the quality of. tea for which they were to be sold. If they
were to be sold as " ordinary black, tea," they were mixed with
rflse^pink -and black lead." Other leaves — sycamore, horse-
chestnut, and sloe — ^were often used in these factories, treated,
and sold — sold, as were also the. unfortunate consumers. It
was not till i860 (the Encyclopcedia informs us) " that any
gener^ Act of Parliament dealing with food adulteration was.
passed into law in Great Britain. Previous to that date, special
statutes applsdng to certain specified articles, such as tea, coffee,
bread, and wine, were in force ; but the main object of these
enactments was to prevent the defrauding of the revenue, the health
and protection of the purchaser being, apparently, a matter of.
secondary importance." \ ~ ■
. Till 1830 there was Httle if any association between Co-opera-
tive societies, except the friendly community of interest between
neighbouring societies and the community of purpose propagated
* Cf., Article on " Adulteration."
40 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
by such little publications as appeared in support of the
Co-operative idea. The Congresses begun in London in 1830
brought the existing societies into association for a time ; but
they ceased to be held. " Co-operative organisation in the year
following 1844 seems to have been somewhat parochial in its
character. The magnificence which seemed to have characterised
most of the committees of earlier days was, for the time being,
laid aside, and Co-operators settled down to the practical
consideration of their immediate difficulties."* These difficulties
were real enough for the best of the societies, manned as many
of them were, by leaders who had had to go to earn their
livelihood when they were nine or ten years of age. There were
constantly arising questions which needed explanations, and
problems which called for guidance. From 1850 onwards,
conferences were periodically held to discuss these questions ;
and so Co-operators from various parts of the country were
brought into contact. They found that their difficulties were
all much of the same kind. The prices societies had to pay
for their stocks hampered their efforts. Besides, shopkeepers
had awakened to the fact that the trade done by these amateurs
was trade that they were losing. The success on the part of
the " store " aroused the jealousy of shopkeepers, who
" attempted to persuade some of the wholesale dealers not to
supply the stores, and threatened to take away their trade
from any firm who refused their request. "t The situation
called for some Co-operative trade protection. It was not a
new idea even then, for the trade societies, referred to in the
last chapter, which sprang up in .various parts of Scotland and
England, conceived of something like a federation in which
these productive societies could all join. At the Manchester
Congress of Owenite societies in 1831, a Wholesale Co-operative
Society was projected, and opened in business in December of
that year in Liverpool. A society that wished to become a
member under that plan had to contribute £20 of capital for
every hundred of its own members ; and the Wholesale Society
was to charge its members i per cent, commission and non-
members i| per cent, commission on business done for them
respectively. It seems to have disappeared before 1833. In
* " Industrial Co-operation," by Catherine Webb.
t " V^rorking-men Co-operators," by A. H. D. Acland and B. Jones.
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 41
1850 Judge Hughes, and his colleagues at the head of the
Christian Socialist societies, established at their own risk a
central Co-operative agency, which did not only propose to buy
and sell for Co-operative societies but to organise exchanges of
goods between them, to organise propaganda effort, to assist
Co-operative societies with legal and business advice, and to
assist in the formation of societies, so that it aimed at per-
forming the functions of some of the Co-operative wholesale
societies on the Continent of Europe to-day, which, to a Icirge
extent, combine the functions of the British Co-operative Union
and the English and Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Societies
as we know them. This society went under before it reached
its third year. In 1855 the Rochdale Society estabUshed a
wholesale department from which other societies could be
supplied. It did not command general support from Co-operative
societies, because there was no confidence in the view that one
society could undertake to perform the functions of a wholesale
house, or that the Rochdale Society was better fitted, by financi^
strength or business experience, to reheve societies of the worries
already described, than any other existing society. The con-
stitution of the Owenite " wholesale " society was on more
Co-operative lines than the Rochdale wholesale department,
because its operations would have been controlled by a
co-operatively chosen committee representing the member-
societies. The chief obstacle in the way of the success of the
Owenite project and of the Christian Socialist " agency " was
the law as it stood. The members of a society were legally
liable to the last penny of their property for debts incurred by
the society. A society could not be a partner in another society.
Under the constitution of a federation such as the Owenites
projected, a society becoming a member of the federation had
to appoint a representative in whose name the society's con-
tribution could be invested in the federation. That member
became one of the partners in the federation, or company, and
he became responsible to his last penny for the debts of the
federation just as the members of the local society were
responsible. In a central society, or co-operative federation,
intended to do business in a wholesale fashion, the commitments
might conceivably be large ; the financial risks run by the.
member who held the shares in the federation on behalf of his
42 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
local society would have been very great. These conditions
made wholesale Co-operation almost impossible.
Co-operators, nevertheless, struggled for a solution of the
problem of wholesale supply. In tracing, the progress malde
towards that solution, we have been helped by the comprehensive
account compiled by Mr Percy Redfem, the editor of The
Wheatsheaf* . Briefly summarised, Mr Redfem's story informs
us that, in i860, Mr Henry Pitman (with whom it has been our
privilege to fraternise at the press table at Co-operative
Congresses) urged the formation of a wholesale agency in the
fifth issue of The Co-opetator, which came into existence in that
year.. "Sooner or later," said the editor (Mr Pitman), "we
■shall be compelled to import articles for consumption, as well
as for manufacture, and a union .of the various societies in
existence will enable it to be done." In December i860
Mr Pitman was again harping on the . same striijg. In 1861
(January) it was recorded that a wholesale depot had been
estabhshed at Huddersfield by thirteen societies ; but this was
registered as a joint-stock company. Several other proposals
appeared in the columns of the Uttle organ, which had so speedily
proved its . usefulness. The secretary of the Reading Society
propounded a plan, in January 1861, under which a wholesale
Co-operative society could be formed of all the stores theij in
existence ; the shares to be, say, ;£20 each ; a store was to be
allowed to subscribe for any number of shares up to what might
be fixed as the maximum ; the wholesale society was to -be
worked by a committee appointed by the representatives of
the store in the same way as the committee of the ordinary
stores ; and the profits -were to be shared on the same principle.
" By this means all the lesser stores would be enabled," he
said, " to obtain goods as pure and as cheap as those which
have the largest capital." To use the language of our statesmen
of the. war-period, we may say that the Reading secretary
(Mr W. E. Bond) thus ." found a formula " which expressed the
aspirations that Co-operators had entertained for thirty years.
The Rochdale Society iad, in conjunction with a few .other
socieities, estabhshed a corn-mill which, in one. quarter alone;
meant a dividend of 3d. per £ more for the societies than the
dividend would have .been if the society had not had this
*'■ The 'Story of the C.Vi^.S." ;
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 43
Co-operative mill to fall back upon. This fact stimulated
thought. Veteran propagandists discussed the subject from all
angles. Tea-parties — on the lines of those " fraternal gatherings"
which the Scottish Section of the Co-operative Union had done
a good deal to popularise just before the war broke out — ^were held
at a Coroperative farm near Middleton (Lancashire), to which
Co-operative enthusiasts went to chat about current difficulties
and prospective developments. At one of these tea-parties, in
1862, the subject of a general depot for the service of all the
societies was discussed ; and Mr WiUiam Marcroft, of Oldham,
in the course of the discussion, made the prophetic utterance
that " Co-operators must not rest until they had their own ships
bringing the produce of other lands direct from the producer
to the consumer, thereby- saving to themselves the profits of
the middleman." WiUiam Cooper, of Rochdale, who had been
a wilHng adviser, to Scottish Co-operators who wished to
transform the basis of their societies to that of Rochdale, was
a regular attender at some of these tea-parties ; and present at
some of them also was Noah Briggs, of Prestwieh, who also
gave helpful advice to the Alloa Society in its early days. On
the need for a central trading organisation all these heroes, of
the past .were agreed. . The law was against them, for the reasons
already given.. WiUiam Cooper argued that no Act of ParUament
could stop them if the Co-operators did what was right ; but
the .majority, recognised the . difficulties, and were almost- all
agreed that it would be impossible to form a federation of
stores untU the law was altered so- as to aUow societies, • as
corporate bodies, to invest capital. in other societies.
That was a tough proposition. ParUament .is not yet 'a
thoroughly representative assembly, because there are many
stiU .unenfranchised ; but, then, it was far short of what it was
even before the 1918 .Act. Nevertheless, there were some
Members of ParUament who regarded the Co-operative movement
with something Uke benevolence, because it made for thrift
and. the elevation of the working-classes. The leaders of the
Christian SociaUst school were enthusiasticaUy behind tiie
Rochdale school of Co-operation. The Co-operators wanted
many improvements, .in the law. The law limited a society's
ownership of land to. one acre; that restriction had to go.
Co-operators, also wanted restrictions on their coUective acquisi-
44 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
tion of property to be removed. They wanted working-people
banded together in Co-operative societies to have the same
privileges of hmited liabiUty as was already enjoyed by wealthy
investors in joint-stock companies. They wanted societies, in
their corporate capacity, to be able to invest capital in other
societies. They wanted to be able to provide educational grants
from the profits, a Rochdale provision that had been rendered
illegal by a subsequent Act of Parhament. To secure the.
incorporation of these reforms in an Act to amend the existing
Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, they invoked the aid
of Edward Vansittart Neale. His great legal knowledge, and
his personal influence, it was believed, would secure what the
Co-operators themselves could not effect. While this step was
taken, other practical steps were also being taken so that the
amendment of the law might find the Co-operators ready. To
that purpose, meetings of buyers for Co-operative societies were
being held as a preUminary step towards the creation of the
big new venture in higher Co-operation. Meanwhile Mr Neale
devoted himself to the task committed to him. He drafted
the new BiU required. He used all the influence he possessed ;
and in 1861 the Bill, which commanded the support of Richard
Cobden, W. Ewart, and John Bright, was introduced by Mr
R. A. Slaney, M.P. for Shrewsbury. Parliamentary machinery
was ill-lubricated in those days — an ailment which has not yet
been remedied so far as amehorative working-class legislation
is concerned — and the Bill did not make sufficient progress to
enable it to go through that session. The promoters of the Bill,
and the Co-operative enthusiasts who were eager for its passing,
were disappointed. The committee representing the Lancashire
societies met, and decided to ask the societies to vote a levy
upon their members in order that a Co-operative deputation
might be sent to London. The deputation was sent to under-
take the " lobbying " necessary to get the Bill hurried on and
to post friends as to the position of the Co-operative societies.
Many deputations have made weary pilgrimages to Westminster
since then to ask for the removal of obstacles to the progress to
which the Co-operative movement legitimately aspires ; but
they have not all been so successful as that deputation in 1862.
When the time came for the introduction of the BUI, Mr Slaney
was ill, and Mr J. Southern Estcourt agreed to take charge of
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 45
it. Mr Slaney was a Liberal ; Mr Estcourt was a Conservative
ex-Home Secretary who represented North Wiltshire. In
moving the Bill, he stated that there were 150 Co-operative
societies in existence, which had done a business of £1,512,117
in the preceding year — a figure which he described as an " extra-
ordinary and almost incredible sum." The Bill went through
without any serious opposition. We have referred to Mr E. V.
Neale's services. Let us pause : Neale was a London barrister.
He drafted that Bill ; he was in constant correspondence with
the Co-operative committee in Lancashire ; he took a personal
interest in the effort to secure the passing of the Bill ; he
buttonholed members of both Houses. The costs of the legis-
lation to the Co-operative committee amounted to £44, 19s. yd.
Neale's " fee " amounted to seven guineas— scarcely so much as
a pettifogging lawyer will take for pushing a claim under the
Workmen's Compensation Act, which is supposed to obviate
litigation. Even then, of the seven guineas he asked that five
should be deducted for the Cotton Famine Relief Fund rendered
necessary by the effects on Lancashire of the American Civil
War. It speaks volumes for the willing service of the man.
In all these efforts it must not be assumed that Scotland was
silent or idle. Her part will be dealt with in the following
chapter ; so that we may here conclude the story of the
estabhshment of wholesale Co-operation. The Act of 1862
made possible the great achievements which have followed.
It provided the longed-for solution of many of the troubles that
confronted societies. It made possible, for the first time, on
a sound basis, a Co-operative society of Co-operative societies.
It facihtated the growth of local societies. It enabled the
societies to combine to do together what they could not do
singly. It made it possible to give effect to the plan suggested
by Mr Bond, of Reading. They could form the long talked of
Wholesale Society, which could be constituted just as other
societies were, except that its members would be societies instead
of individuals ; they could elect their committee of management
like any other society, except that the members of the committee
would be representatives of members instead of individual
members ; they could, through meetings of delegates, direct
and control the operations of the wholesale society just as they
themselves were directed and controlled by the will of the
46 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
members expressed at their own meetings ; they could lay
down plans for the conduct of the business of the federation,
stipulate for the best quality of goods to be supplied, save the
profits of the wholesalers for the societies just as the societies
saved the profits of the retailers for the individual consumer-
member, and they could gradually ehminate the middlemen.
The prospects were not restricted to buying and selling as we
have seen from the foregoing. Production and manufacture of
goods, importing of goods, transport of goods in Co-operative
ships, were all among the dreams of those who had promoted
Co-operation ; possession of land, the provision of houses and
works, direction of education, and control of Government were
also among those dreams. The Act of 1862 brought those
dreams nearer reaUsation. It had its imperfections upon its
head, nevertheless. The Act authorised individuals to invest
£200 in Co-operative societies instead of £100 previously allowed,
but it fixed the same sum as the maximum which might be
invested by one society . in another. Under such conditions
there was little prospect of the wholesale society revolutionising
the trade and industry of the kingdom. There were other
defects, but this was the. most obvious ; and along with, several
others it was remedied by an amending Act in 1867.
These defects did not deter Co-operators from attempting to
make the best of their opportunity. Immediately after the
Act was passed, a conference of Co-operative delegates was
held at Oldham — ^it was on Christmas Day, 1862 — at which
Mr Abraham Greenwood read a paper unfolding a scheme. It
was there resolved that a Co-operative wholesale society should
be immediately formed. The idea put forward was that an
ofl&ce should be opened at Liverpool or Manchester ; none but
Co-operative societies were to be allowed to become shareholders
or purchasers ; the business was to be conducted for ready
money ; goods were to be bought only to order, and to be
invoiced at cost price, a small commission being charged to
defray the working expenses ; societies were to pay their own
carriage ; and the capital was to be raised by every society
taking up shares in proportion to the number of its members.
This project was carried out, and the new federation was
registered in August 1863 under the title of the North of England
Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited.
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 47
A letter addressed from any part of the world to-day to " The
C.W.S., Manchester," would be delivered without any delay ;
but it was under this imposing title that. the " C.W.S.," as we
know it, began business in 1864. An article on the relations of
the Wholescile societies to the retail societies* describes the
weakness of the original plan : " Within six months from the
commencement of business, the Wholesale Society had to discard
the agency principle of charging cost price plus a small com-
mission. The theory seemed perfect ; but,, in practice, it could
not be carried out successfully." The " Wholesale " had to
change its methods. It had to seU goods as the retail .stores
sold the goods, at or sUghtly below the prevailing market prices,
and divide the profits, as the retail societies. did, in proportion
to purchases. The application of this " Rochdale plan " to
Co-operative Wholesale trade had results even more astonishing
than the results that followed the adoption of the Rochdale
system in the retail trade. The reasons for the lack of success
in the original " agency system " are given in the article just
referred to. Briefly, the reasons were that, owing to the
exigencies of trade, the Wholesale had sometimes to purchase
larger supplies than were immediately needed. Prices fluctuated ;
when the market rose there was no difficulty in finding buyers
at " cost price plus commission " ; but when prices went down
and the Wholesale's " cost price plus commission " exceeded
the price at which goods could be bought, the buyers " passed
the Wholesale." By seUing at the prevaihng market price, or
sHghtly below it, the profit or loss was averaged over all the
members; none got any special advantage and none suffered,
any special disadvantage, but all benefited generally. Success
was assured by the change, although there were advocates of
the " open door " who did not beUeve in concentrating all their
purchases in the Wholesale Society of their own creation.
Wholesale houses which formerly suppUed societies with goods,
used their most alluring wiles to retain the accoimts of these
societies. AU kinds of enterprises sprang up to capture the trade
of the societies which seemed hkely to go to the Wholesale
Society. At least one private venture was formed which, called
itself the National Co-operative Agency, and which advertised, in
The Co-operator that it sold goods only to Co-operative Societies..
* " B. J., L. B.," in the Wholesale Societies' "Annual," X896.
48 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
What alarmed the wholesale houses were the enormous
potentiahties of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. The
Wholesale's first financial statement only covered a period of
seven weeks. It showed sales which, with the commission (one
penny per £) added, only amounted to £5.962 ; and the capital
paid up was only £999 ; but there were fifty-four societies in
membership, and their trade was bound to grow. In addition
to that, the committee in their preamble to the accounts had
openly declared that : " The object sought to be attained was
to bring the producer and the consumer into more immediate
contact, and thus enhance the profits of Co-operation by
diminishing the cost of distribution. This, we beUeve, can be
done with the least possible risk, by aggregating the purchases
•of the whole, or part, of the societies in the North of England,
and buying the commodities required, with ready money, in
quantities sufficiently large to command the best markets. By
securing societies against imposition, in the da}^ of their infancy
and inexperience, and enabling them to purchase on more
advantageous terms than the largest societies have hitherto
done, we shall ensure the healthy extension and consolidation
of our movement. Many societies have already testified to the
advantage they have derived from our operations. Still greater
benefits are in store, if we are only true to ourselves, and are
determined that the general interests of Co-operation shall not
be sacrificed to the prejudice or antagonism of individuals."
The hopes of the committee were gratified somewhat slowly.
In 1866 the membership was nearly two hundred, and the sales
were approximately a quarter of a miUion for the year. While
the committee were not satisfied, the private firms were very
dissatisfied at losing this turnover. The more the turnover
grew, the more dissatisfied were the merchants. The element
of private profit did not affect those responsible for the conduct
of the Wholesale trade. They were merely the servants of the
purchasers. They and their operations were under the super-
vision of the representatives of the purchasers. Store committees,
store salesmen, and store customers began to realise the advantage
of having carried the Co-operative principle and Co-operative
methods into the Wholesale trade. The Grocer at length became
alarmed, and in 1867 began to organise a boycott of any firm
which had any connection with Co-operative societies, and a
THE SOCIETY'S SECRETARIES— 1868-1918
0) John Allan. (2) Allan Gray. (3) Andrew Miller. (4) John Pearson.
THE ONLY TREASURERS OF THE S.C.W.S
(1) Gabriel Thomson.
(2) John Barrowman,
THE CONCEPTION OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION 49
few years later it published a list of eighty-four firms which
refused to do business with Co-operative concerns ; but, there
were trading firms then — even as there are now — ^who kept
free from prejudices and who refused to follow the lead of
The Grocer.
The oddest result of Co-operative Wholesale trading was that
retail grocers themselves, who, no doubt, deplored the growth of
a movement which deprived them of trade, adopted the
Co-operative principle, and formed the London Grocers'
Wholesale Society, which was registered under the Industrial
and Provident Societies Acts. Its members were six hundred
retail grocers ; but their total shares in the concern only
amoimted to £4,861, and the venture had to be given up. A
similar organisation was attempted in Manchester ; but, Uke
their London compeers, these business men, concerned about
private profit and actuated by the individuahstic principle of
" each for himself," failed to do what has been done so success-
fully by the working-men of the country concerned only for
the common good and actuated by the Co-operative principle
of " all for each and each for all." It is odd that for the sake
of expediency these people should have attempted to practise a
system which they professed to condemn in principle ; but the
same inconsistency is manifest to-day, for the individualistic
farmer will co-operate with his fellow individuahsts for the
purchase of seeds, and the purchase and use of tractors and
other machines in use in modem agriculture ; and those who
are so fortunate as to indulge in motoring for a pastime, have
formed Co-operative societies to provide themselves with motor
accessories. The spirit of individualism cannot apply itself to
a Co-operative system which seeks the common good of all ; and
such a Co-operative system disappoints those whose chief aim
is self-aggrandisement ; hence the failure of those odd attempts
to imitate Co-operative methods, and hence the greater progress
of Co-operatiOn in those districts where the members of societies
most truly shed the spirit of selfishness and Co-operate with their
fellows for the good of all who care to share in the responsibihties
and advantages.
IV.
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE.
EARLY SCOTTISH ADVOCATES OF WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION " JUNIPER '
OF HAWICK— HOW THE CO-OPERATIVE PRESS HELPED THE MOVEMENT
FIRST " C.W.S." IN SCOTLAND FORMED BY EDINBURGH SOCIETIES
JOHN M'INNES TAKES A HAND ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE
" GLASGOW SENTINEL " THE FIRST GLASGOW CONFERENCE " CO-
OPERATION AND POLITICS," 1864 — TRADING RELATIONS WITH THE
C.W.S. — EARLY STATISTICAL RECORDS SUBMITTED AT CONFERENCES—
A DELEGATE FROM THE " ENGLISH WHOLESALE "—SUCCESS IN
ENGLAND STIMULATES SCOTTISH ENTHUSIASM — THE VISION OF THE
" SCOTTISH CO-OPERATOR " REQUEST FOR A BRANCH OF THE NORTH
OP ENGLAND SOCIETY AND THE DECISIVE STEP — THE PRELIMINARY
committee's SUCCESS THE " SCOTTISH CO-OPERATOR " MOVES THE
HOUSE OF COMMONS — THE FIRST SCOTTISH CO-OPERATIVE SURVEY
REPORT — A SPELL OF VIGOROUS PROPAGANDA LABOUR'S REWARD
THE S.C.W.S. IS BORN.
What were the Co-operators of Scotland thinking of while
their friends South of the Tweed were creating enthusiasm fqr
the wholesale agency ? They were just as eager to carry the
Co-operative principle into wholesale trade as anybody else.
Efforts had been made, in the days of livehest Owenite enthu-:
siasm, to form a central union of the trade unions for the exchange
of productions. That day had passed. The distributive
societies that had since been formed acquired a knowledge of
the needs of the people. In other words, one of the great advan-
tages that the Co-operative society had over the private, trader
was that the Society was catering for a known market, while the
private shopkeeper was speculating upon a peobabi^e market.
The advantage that a wholesale federation of such societies
would have over the ordinary wholesale house which, like its
retailer customers, would have to buy largely in a speculative,
way, was quite apparent to Scotsmen, who had akeady perceived
the value of Co-operation. Scottish Co-operators, therefore,
were not silent witnesses to the progress that was being made
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 61
towards federation. Mr Robert Murray, in his " History of
Barrhead Co-operative Society," mentions that two menabers
of the committee of the society were appointed to attend a
conference to consider the subject in November 1861 ; but, a
year prior to that, a letter in support of a Co-operative wholesale
agency had been written by a Scottish Co-operator. As we
mentioned in the last chapter, the idea of a wholesale agency
was dealt with by Mr Henry Pitman in the fifth issue of the
Co-operator. That was the October issue in i860. Almost
immediately, a member of the " Hawick Chartist Store " — which
had by that time dropped the word " Chartist " from its title —
wrote an excellent letter to the editor of the Co-operator com-
mending the suggestion. "Sooner or later," he wrote, "we
shall be compelled to import articles for consumption as well as
for manufacture. The wholesale agencies referred to, if adopted,
win no doubt be beneficial in the importation of foreign
productions, and may also be rendered available for the concen-
tration and distribution of home manufactured goods. Such a
wholesale agency would give an impulse to the Co-operative Cotton
Manufacturing Companies now flourishing in several districts
in England, and also to the hosiery company recently formed in
Hawick. These manufacturing companies would see their way
to an extensive trade, as none of them produce any goods but
what are required, more or less, by each individual Co-operator."
It was a helpful contribution to the public discussion of a big
proposition. We should like to know who the writer was. He
simply signed his letter " Juniper," and there was no address
printed save " Hawick," so that the laurels to which he is entitled
for his early effort to develop Co-operative opinion in the direction
of wholesale Co-operation cannot be awarded him. When the
S.C.W.S. did come into existence, it took the Hawick Society
ten years to make up its mind to join ; and even then there was
a good deal of opposition, partly because some members thought
the society's rules did not allow of the investment of capital in
the shares of other concerns. " Juniper," however, was ahead
of his feUow Borderers ; and the English Wholesale Society
came into existence because he and others were shrewd enough
to see the great potentialities of wholesale Co-operation. The
editor of the Co-operator:^d him a slight injustice, for it\vas not
till January 1861 that his October letter was published. The
52 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
paper was published monthly, so that the letter missed two
issues ; but the date is printed with the letter, and we may
presume that Mr Pitman found the same difficulty as editors have
to-day in fitting four columns of matter into two columns of space.
An important step forward was taken by the Edinburgh
societies, which had experienced the difficulties of most other
societies. On 5th June 1863 a conference of representatives of
these societies was held* in Buchanan's Temperance Hotel,
Edinburgh, at which it was decided to establish a wholesale
agency, which was subsequently named the " Edinburgh Central
Co-operative Association." There were shrewd men present.
The talk was of a preUminary nature, but, within a fortnight,
eight societies were enrolled as members. Three of these
societies are still in existence, viz. : — St Cuthbert's, Leith, and
Portobello. The committee comprised Messrs Caw, St Cuthbert's
(chairman) ; Menzies, St Margaret's (vice-chairman) ; Louden,
Greenside Society (secretary) ; Fyvie, Richmond Place Society
(treasurer) ; and Marshall, Water of Leith Society (not the
Leith Society). This C.W.S. in embryo was bu5dng goods for its
society members before the end of June 1863 — two months
before the North of England Wholesale Society was registered,
and nearly a year before that federation began to trade. The
business of the association was conducted for about four years
somewhat spasmodically ; various schemes of a federal character
were discussed ; but the association was too small, and various
other reasons also served to prevent it from doing what it set
out to do with any degree of success. The attempt had been
made thus early ; we cannot recall any similar experiment prior
to that ; and the men who made this attempt deserve some little
credit for their enterprise. They recognised th^t their own
venture was not the last word in wholesale Co-operation, and
they gave the Co-operators of the West a hand in launching
the S.C.W.S. when the move was being made in that direction.
While we do Hawick, and the Edinburgh societies, the
justice of recording these forgotten facts, we have to return to
do homage to Barrhead. The power of the Press was as great
in those days as it is to-day, and the Co-operative movement
of the 'sixties owed as much to the Co-operative Press of the
period as the movement does in our own day. While wholesale
* " First Fifty Years of St Cuthbert's."
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 53
Co-operation seems a natural development of the " store "
system, it was inaugurated in England through the instru-
mentality of the Co-operator earUer than it would have been
if there had been no pubhcation of that kind. So, too, in
Scotland, Co-operative progress was stimulated by the pubhcation
of the Scottish Co-operator, for the institution of which Mr John
M'Innes, of Barrhead, was responsible. That was only a small
publication issued monthly. It had eight pages about the size
of the City of Perth's Co-operative Pioneer, which has had quite
a long and useful run under the editorship of enthusiasts. The
Scottish Co-operator ran into a hundred copies for the first month,
but it gradually increased, and when it ceased, after eight years,
it had a circulation of about 3,000 copies per month. It was
merged in the Co-operative News when that was set up in 1871, and
Mr M'Innes became the Scottish representative of the News, a
post which he held almost to his death in 1880.
Mr M'Innes made good use of the space at his disposal in the
Scottish Co-operator. The first issue appeared in July 1863, and
before the end of the year the editor was agitating Co-operators
with the view to holding a conference to discuss the desirabihty
of instituting a wholesale agency for Scotland such as had been
decided upon for the North of England in August of that year.
It was a useful lead, for Mr M'Innes, hke " Juniper " of Hawick,
was only theorising, although theorising upon pretty safe
premises, for the North of England Society had not then begun
business,- and the Edinburgh venture had not proved its utiUty.
The subject was taken up by readers of the Scottish Co-operator,
and letters to the editor showed that a good deal of support could
be counted upon in the event of the initiative steps being taken.
The Glasgow Co-operative Society and its neighbour, St RoUox
Society, prosecuted the subject very vigorously. This was not
the Glasgow Co-operative Bazaar with which Alexander
Campbell had been connected in the 'thirties ; but Campbell was
also one of the leading spirits in the new Glasgow Society, which
came into existence about 1856 or 1857. Campbell was a
wonderful man in many respects. His earUer activities have
been noted in another chapter, but he was as vigorously in favour
of the Rochdale system as he had been of the earUer movement
in Scotland. He took part in the Social Science Congress
several times, and the fact that Co-operation was constantly
54 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN. SCOTLAND
being discussed at these gatherings, and frequently discussed
at meetings of the British Association, was significant evidence
of the attention which the movement had attracted not only
ainong the working-people who needed its economies, but among
the " intellectuals " who theorised regarding the world as it
was and as it should be. Campbell was afterwards attached to
the Glasgow Sentinel, which had been founded by Robert
Buchanan, who joined in the Owenite campaign about 1837.
It may be recalled, also, that Campbell was one of the managers
of the Orbiston community founded by Owen. Of Campbell's
enthusiasm there could be no question, nor was his vision at
.fault ; but the 1830 society went to pieces because,. as the Herald
to the Trades' Advocate put it, schism came " of intermingUng
metaphysics with the everyday purposes of life." The second
society was not on a stable basis either ; but, the trouble in that
case was purely materialist and not metaphysical. The society
spread out more rapidly than prudence would have advised.
Members decided . upon establishing branches in various parts
of the city, but,, when they were estabUshed, the members who
had called for them did not support them ; and, as no law
existed then — as none exists now— to enforce moral obligations,
.the society ultimately went.into the melting-pot. His connection
with these two faihng societies detracts from Campbell's reputa-
tion, but he could scarcely be blamed for these misfortunes.
One of the prerogatives of democracy is that if the democracy
.wants to go wrong it is entitled to go wrong, and there is probably
more human satisfaction in going one's own way voluntarily,
even if it be the wrong way, than there is in going somebody
else's way, even if it be the right way. Be that as it may, the
second Glasgow Co-operative Society took a wrong, turning
which, as we have said, led it into the melting-pot. The end
did not come till 1865, however ; and, Campbell and .the com-
mittee of the society were among the promoters of a conference
held in the BeU Hotel, in the Trongate, Glasgow, in April 1864,
" to consider the necessity of establishing a wholesale depot or
agency in Glasgow for the purpose of supplying Co-operative
societies in the West of Scotland and elsewhere with pure
groceries and provisions from the best markets."
Mr John Bimie, of St RoUox Society, presided at the con-
ference, and. explained that as the societies could not, under the
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT. TO LIFE 65
existing conditions, get beyond the wholesale dealers, the
advantages the members enjoyed were limited. In adopting
the scheme of a wholesale agency or depot for themselves, the
profits of the merchants could be added to those of the retailers.
He reminded them that the proposition was not new, because it
had been already adopted by the Co-operators of the North of
England. The paper read at the Oldham conference by Mr
Abraham Greenwood, explaining the method of carrying on a
wholesale agency, was read to the delegates from. Mr Pitman's
Co-operator, together with an editorial article. There were
delegates present from twenty-six societies, but fourteen
societies voted in favour of an agency being estabUshed without
a depot ; eleven were in favour of an agency with a depot. The
conference represented 6,iii members of societies, with capital
amounting to £12,901, and sales to the amount of £2,703 weekly,
or £130,556 per annum. Alexander Campbell, who moved that
the committee be instructed to take steps to carry out the
suggestion given, and to report as early ,as could be foimd
practicable, declared that the conference was " one of the most
important Co-operative gatherings ever held in Scotland."
The chairman, describing the business done, remarked that it
was Hke "building a bridge that would, carry Co-operators to
prosperity." The Glasgow Sentinel published a reference to the
conference, and dwelt upon the proposed wholesale society.
-The object of that society, said the Sentinel, was to develop to
its legitimate end a movement which promised." to put within
reach of the working-rnen not only wealth and comfort, but
the political status which has hitherto been denied, them on
account of their poverty." The article pointed out that
" within the short period that has elapsed frojn what might be
called the second advent of Co-operation , into Scotland, the
movement has made surprising strides. In, the. earlier experi-
ments made the true Co-operative principles were not known
nor acted on, and the result was an ahnost universal failure of
the societies started to the discomfiture of their members and to
the scandal of this great social movement." In conclusion it
said : " With the additional profits on the wholesale purchases,
the retail Co-operators will find their, own position better
assured . . . an.d encourage others, of their own class to engage
in an experiment which costs nothing, but which promises
56 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
wealth and social and political advantages no other movement
has been able to realise." We presimie these view? represented
the opinions of Campbell* and the committee; and they certainly
give some indication of the attitude of some Co-operators of
fifty years ago to the question of " Co-operators and Politics,"
which has recently stirred not only the Co-operative world, but
the whole realm of British pohtics. All the things promised in
the speeches of Campbell and the chairman of that conference,
and in the article in the Sentinel, were to come ; but beyond
quickening Co-operative opinion in the direction of wholesale
Co-operation, the conference did httle, and the committee left
to take practical measures did less. The members of the com-
mittee who were in the Glasgow Co-operative Society — and they
dominated it — had soon something more intimate to think of.
Two months after the conference notice of motion to wind up
the Glasgow Society was lodged, and, a year later, it disappeared.
Mr M'Innes was deeply hurt because he was not invited to
that conference called to discuss a subject which he and his
paper had made a Uve question ; but when a year elapsed and
nothing appeared to be coming of it — ^not even a report from the
committee — his sense of personal slight was forgotten in his
righteous wrath at the possible harm Ukely to result from the
business they were appointed to do having been " so unmerci-
fully burked " by the committee. Readers pestered him with
letters on the subject, and he stated fi'ankly in the Scottish
Co-operator that if anything was to be done the matter would
have to " be placed in other hands." He quickly revived
Co-operative interest in the project, and, eventually, he con-
vened a conference at the office of the Scottish Co-operator, at
Barrhead, on 2nd September 1865. Readers of Mr Maxwell's
" History of Co-operation in Scotland " know the details. The
conference was not called in connection with the formation of a
wholesale society specifically, but to consider the propriety of
arranging periodical meetings of Co-operative representatives
to discuss Co-operative topics. Needless to say, however, the
subject which had been so eagerly discussed in the columns of
the paper occupied the chief part of the improvised programme.
The delegates present were : — Messrs Robert Stark, Barrhead
Society ; James Borrowman, Crosshouse ; Paterson, Alexander.
* Campbell was attached to the Sentinel.
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LiPE 57
and Roger, Paisley Equitable Society; Edmond, Cockbum,
Pearson, Wright, and Paton, Paisley Provident Society;
Thomas Leckie, St Rollox ; John Robertson, Hamilton ;
Simpson and Macdonald, Port-Glasgow ; John Borrowman,
St Cuthbert's ; Paxton, M'Nab, and PhiUp, Renfrew ; and John
M'Innes, the convener. With men like M'Innes, Stark, John
Borrowman, and James Borrowman present, it was evident that
there would be a move on ; but the delegates had no definite
information regarding the position of the committee appointed at
the conference already referred to, and it was decided that Mr
M'Innes, who was appointed secretary of the assembly, should
estabhsh some sort of communication with the committee and
ascertain how matters really stood. The conference, however,
talked round the subject in a general way. The scarcity of
capital was thought to be an obstacle to the establishment of
a Scottish society on the lines of the North of England Society,
which had now been carrying on business for about eighteen
months. Mr Pitman's Co-operator had been urging the North
of England Society to estabhsh a branch in London and one in
Edinburgh, but that step had not been taken. The conference
thought of estabhshing trading relations with the Enghsh
Society, but the distance from Manchester, and the carriage
costs, seemed to rule that proposition out, and the compromise
that suggested itself was that the Scottish societies might set
up a wholesale agency for the supply of butter and sugar. The
conference, however, contented itself with the decision to
ascertain what the existing committe'e of inquiry had done.
In reply to the commimication from Mr M'Innes, Mr John
Duncan, the secretary of the late Glasgow Society, explained
that there were only two members of that committee left in
Glasgow, and he thought the new committee need not count
upon anything having been done.
It was not till 7th April 1866 that the next conference was
held in the Bell Hotel, Glasgow. The- societies sending delegates
were asked to supply certain details regarding their societies,
so as to guide the conference in its action. The official report
of this conference also has been given in Mr Maxwell's History,
along with reports of the subsequent meetings prehminary to
the estabhshment of the Wholesale, but cannot be excluded
from this record on that account.
S8
WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The following table gives the societies represented, the
lielegates appointed to represent them, and the details asked
-for. A comparison of these statistics, with up-to-date statistics
of such of the societies as stiU exist, wiU interest present members.
SOCIETY.
DELEGATES.
1
Members'
Capital.
Sales
Last Quarter.
Insur-
ance.
•Flour.
£ s. d.
£ S.
d.
£
Bags.
Aiezandria
J.Mills
176
442 7 7
936 16
7
AUoa
J. Millar
220
366 16 91
945 16
H
700
36
Alva
J. Millar
336
2,220 11 7i
1.696
Bannockbiim
J. M'Innes
231
3,067 6 9
31832 14
li
900
...
Barrhead
R. Stark
189
703 6 5J
1,338 7
5i
Bonnyrigg
J. M'Innes
t N.I.
Breohin
J. M'Tnnes
658
2,889 10 4
5,734"'o
516
Busby
J. Nimmo and
A. M'Nab ...
*••
357 13 7i
1,608 1
81,
• Crosahoase
Ja=?. Borrowman
190
515 2 2
1,902 2
li
Ooaltown of Wemyss
J. M'Innes ...
60
294
673 1
3
200
''l2
Oambemauld
J. M'Innes
N.I.
Deanston
J. Saunders ...
112
360
672"'5
n
Not I.
■"8
Dumbarton
J. M'Kinlay ...
236 1 2
736 19
t
...
Dunfermline
J. Henderson ...
654
2,051 14 5
3,689 10
^
1400
130
• Bast Kilbride ■ ...
W. Bright
N.I.
Bast Wemyss
B. Morris
161
500
2,035" 13
400
372
Bdinbnt^h —
Oo-op. Society ...
John Borrowman
376 11 11
2,046 19
2J
Western ... " ...
John Borrowman
189 18 li
768 18
11
St Margaret's ...
John Borrowman
176
260 0,0
900
300
"52
Sfc Outhbei^'s ...
John Borrowman
323 6 5
1,934 13
8i
Galston
J. Cunningham
220
323 16 9
1,640 19
11*
Glasgow-
Southern
E. Hart
...
N.I.
St BoUox
J. Annandale ...
228
327 10 lOi
l,190"i4
3J
• Grsmgemouth
J. Amott
, -
N.I.
...
tHawiok
R. Tough
666
2,576 10 10
4,46l'"0
1250
646
Kilmarnock ,
J. Burnett
163
206 16 6f
1,061
4
Kinross
J. M'limes
140
80
325
300
Lanark . .;
N.I.
North of Ei^land
Wholesale Society
J. 0. Edwards
Newtonahaw
J. MiUar
190
316'l5
l,02l'"5
9
500
■36
. Paisley Equitable ...
T. Nairn and
R. Bdmond ...
212
269 2.
1,352 14
• ••
. Paisley Provident ...
T. Vance and
B. Paterson
630
628 4 2|
1,817 6
Si
,.
Penicuik
J. M'Innes . ...
240
1,611 12 llj
1,747 17
4
Portobello
John Borrowman
108
252
1,147
600
16
• Shotts
J. Brunton
40
87 19 11
663 12
H
Not I.
Springbum
J. Morrison and
D. M'Kechnie
107
N.I.
1,253 8
31
200
18
Thornliebank
J. Oibb and
D. Cameron
160
275
1,438
'400
26
Tttliooultiy
R. Finlay
300
1,825
1,800
700
16
Tillicoultry Bakinj;
B. Murray
• ••
N.I.
.
il'Toon
J. Montgomeiy
225
148 6 3
638 11 11
,,
"27
West Wemyss
J. Brown ■
99
477 6 41
1,193 S
li
600
16
24,538 6 Sj
63,901 14
4S
** In. some instances this column includes the flour baked as well as sold.
t and marked thus (...) stand for no inlormation on these points.
t In addition to the working capital of the Hawick Society, the members are owners of
Writable property, valued at £1,500, which is also insured. The profits on the qusuter's sales
amount to £340, 9s, lOJd. The capital and sales are the largest of any of the Scottish societies
with the exception of Brechin.
HOW THE SX.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 59
An interesting feature of the conference was the presence of
Mr J. C. Edwards, the cashier of the North of England Society,
in response to an invitation sent to his committee. One of the
pleasant recollections of those days is of the ready, wilUng
assistance which the Southern society gave to those wilUng to
set up what, in ordinary trade, would be regarded as a rival firm.
Co-operatoirs, however, were accustomed to give and to receive
help of that kind in nearly all their enterprises.
The report of the conference is as follows : —
A meeting of delegates, representing forty of the co-operative
societies of Scotland, was held in the Bell Hotel, Glasgow, on Saturday,
the seventh day of April 1S66, at twelve o'clock noon.
, Mr James Borrowman, of Crosshouse, near Kilmarnock, was
unanimously called to the chair. Mr Borrowman, on assuming the
chair, opened the proceedings by deUvering an eloquent address on
the importance of co-operation, its beneficial effects, and the objects
of the conference as regards co-operative societies.
The Chairman afterwards called upon Mr J. C. Edwards, ot
Manchester, cashier and manager of the North of. England Wholesale
Indilstrial Society Limited, who attended the meeting by request,
kindly acceded to by the directorate of that society.
Mr Edwards gave the meeting a very succinct and graphic history
of his society, stating the difficulties and dangers it had to contend
with since its inauguration — ^these obstacles not alone arising from
tlje jealousies of private wholesale houses, but also from coroperative
societies. He also gave an amusing description of the nefarious tricks
resorted to by the tirade in respect to butter and tea, showing that a
co-operative society, such as he represented and such as the meeting
contemplated establishing, had not the same incentives to delude ;
their, customers being shareholders, adulteration could be no gain to
them, as the profit arising in this way would be only changing the
money from the one pocket to the other. The information given to
the meeting was very valuable, and highly appreciated by the delegates
present.
The question was then, taken up as to the starting of a wholesale
agency. Each of the delegates gave their opinion on the matter, all
tending to be favourable, but judiciously concluding that the societies
in Scotland were not yet in a position to maintain one.
Mr J. Millar, of Alva, in accordance with the general tendency of
the meeting, moved : " That the delegates impress upon the members
of their respective societies the importance of taking shares in the
North of England Wholesale Co-operative Society, and also the great
necessity of giving to it the largest measure of support possible."
The resolution was seconded by Mr J. Morrison, of Springbum, and
unanimously adopted.
The advantages to be secured by, and the possibility of starting
a co-operative flour mill, were then discussed, the result being that the
delegates were pretty unanimous in the opinion that the present state
60 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of the co-operative societies in Scotland did not warrant their recom-
mending the formation of a co-operative flour mill. The question
of a co-operative insurance society was also considered, but postponed
till the results of the forthcoming conference on this question by the
English societies be ascertained.
On the question of a uniform balance-sheet, the delegates were
unanimous that such was necessary, and the following committee
was appointed to draw up one : — Messrs Thomas Nairn and Robert
Paterson, Paisley, and Robert Stark and John M'Innes, Barrhead.
What the Scottish Co-operator thought of the meeting and
thought of the achievements of the existing Wholesale Society
in England was indicated in an article then published. " The
success which has already attended the mission of the North of
England Wholesale Co-operative Society," said the editor, " is
a cheering proof that the faith of working-men in each other
is increasing, that the profit secured is teaching them to look
for other and more extended schemes in which to embark their
capital, and that co-operative efforts conducted by working-men
for the benefit of working-men are destined to advance." That
was the interpretation which Mr M'Innes put upon the initial
success of what is now the " C.W.S." ; but it inspired him—
and he inspired his readers — ^with great hopes of what might
come to the Co-operators of the country. The decision of the
conference, it will be remembered, was that the delegates should
impress upon their societies the importance of taking shares in
the North of England Wholesale Society. With characteristic
loyalty to his constituency, then, Mr M'Innes wrote of that
federation in his article as if it were the property of Scotland as
well as of England ; and this is the vision of the future that pre-
sented itself to him and which he presented to his readers :
" Trusting in ourselves and united in our action, glorious prospects
open up before us. A mighty federation of the stores consolidated in
one efficient board of management [with branches spread over the
length and breadth of the land) would tell with crushing force upon
those reckless speculators whose capital and time are employed to
enhance the price of the poor man's food. Clever as they are,
they would stand aghast before a piitchasing power of eight to
ten millions per annum ; and at the present ratio of increase,
Co-operators in a few years will represent such a power. If we
were only wise enough to unite our purchases, we could defy
competition ; and with agents of our own abroad to purchase in
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 61
the first markets, and ships of our own to traverse the world's
highway, these speculators in food would be at an end." Although
even to-day the present Scottish Co-operator and the Co-operative
News find it necessary to agitate for greater Co-operative efforts
to bring the speculators in food to an end, the movement has
travelled a long way beyond John M'Innes's estimate of the
amount of concentrated purchasing power required to achieve
that purpose. The purchasing power concentrated in the
" mighty federations " — ^not a mighty federation — had reached
his high-water anticipation when the then unborn Scottish
Wholesale had only come of age. It is not anticipating sub-
sequent details to state that the two Wholesale societies were
producing goods to the value of thirty millions per annum and
selling goods to the value of eighty-five millions in the S.C.W.S.
jubilee year. The speculators in food stand enraged ; but they
have not been brought to an end yet.
The delegates who had attended the 1866 conference had
probably carried out the instructions given by the conference ;
but there were serious difficulties in putting the resolution into
practice. Some societies that have now a venerable history did
apply the resolution — Penicuik, DunfermUne, St Cuthbert's,
St RoUox> and Alva were among the first — but distance, as was
pointed out at the 1865 conference, was a difficulty, especially
as what the societies wanted most were foodstuffs. The matter
was discussed as vigorously as ever during the whole of 1866
and the early part of 1867. There was a general desire on the
part of enthusiastic Co-operators to be participators in the work
of the North of England Society ; but with the best wiU in the
world the stores could not make good use of the society.
London was taking steps to set up a wholesale agency ; so, too,
was Newcastle. These districts encountered difficulties in doing
all their trade with a Manchester depot ; and Scotland, therefore,
could not be found fiault with if she frankly proclaimed her
difficulties. English Co-operators did not find fault, and least
of all did those connected with the management of the existing
Wholesale Society. Mr Pitman, in an editorial note in the
Co-operator (repljdng to a member of St Cuthbert's who expressed
a desire to see Co-operation as strong in Edinburgh as it was
in Rochdale), remarked : " Perhaps it wiU be when you have
had equal experience. . . . Your greatest want seems to
62 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
be a wholesale society. Never rest until you have got centra
stores."
The question was therefore raised again at a conference held
in Whjd:e's Hotel, Ingram Street, Glasgow, on 8th June 1867, to
discuss (i) " the necessity of a wholesale agency in Glasgow,
either as a branch of the North of England Wholesale
Co-operative Society or independent of it, but purchasing from
it as much as possible ; " and (2) " the urgent need of a com
mill, how to raise capital for the same, and the best site." It
was a pretty fuU programme to discuss ; but . Mr James
Borrowman, again in the chair, carried through the proceedings
very expeditiously. There were thirty societies represented,
besides the North of England Society which was again repre-
sented by Mr Edwards. Some of these societies did not send
delegates of their own, but they authorised the secretary (Mr
M'Innes) to act for them. Those present were John M'Innes
representing Auchinleck, Grahamston and Bainsford, Lanark,
Portobello, and West Wemyss societies ; J. M'Gruther,
Bannockburn ; J. Allan and R. Stark, Barrhead ; W. Davidson,
Bathgate; John Nimmo, Busby; H. Andrews and G. Lawrie,
Carluke ; James Bprrowman, Crosshouse ; Thomas LesUe,
Dalkeith ; James Anderson, Dairy Baking Society ; D. March-
bank and R. M' Arthur, Dalziel ; J., M'Kinlay, Dumbarton;
Joseph Henderson, DunfermUne ; AUan Scott and R. Lees,
St Cuthbert's ; J. Whitelaw, Glasgow Eastern ; Gabriel Thomson
and D. M'Calman, St RoUox ; George Merrylees, Kihnamock ;
James Nairn, Kingskettle ; David Kidd, Kirkland ; W. Smith,
Lochgelly; A. Lindsay, Montrose; R. More and D. Andrew,
Paisley Provident ; P. M'Donald and A- Walker, Port-Glasgow.;
James Brunton,. Shotts ; Matthew Ireland, Renfrew; and a
delegate from Alva Society.
The chief discussion centred round the first proposition,
Mr John Allan, the first secretary of the S.C.W.S., has placed
it on record that the " universal desire among the friends of
the movement was to have a branch of the Wholesale Society
in Manchester estabUshed in either Glasgow or Edinburgh."
Mr Edwards, in response to this desire, e:?plained to the
delegates, that the committee of the North of England Society
had authorised him to state that, a branch of that society could-
not be established, at. Glasgow as. th.ere were placps. in. England;
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE GS
that had a prior claim when the committee saw the way clear
to establish branches. As a matter of fact; the committee had
declined to accede to a similar request from Newcastle earher
in the year. The English Wholesale committee also authorised
Mr Edwards to promise that if the Scottish societies contemplated
the formation of a wholesale society in Scotland, they could rely
upon all the advice and assistance which the experience of the
Enghsh Wholesale committee could render of any value to-
them. The promise was most welcome, for the North- of England
Society had now had more than three years' experience of the
wholesale trade ; and the Scottish Co-operators were naturally-
anxious to avoid mistakes into which their want of experience-
might lead them. It was also promised that if a Scottish
wholesale society were formed, Scottish members of the North
of England Society would have " every facihty for the immediate-
transfer of their shares." The way was therefore cleared for
what might be called direct action. With the strongly expressed.
desire of their societies, aiid with the encouragement of the
North of England Society, the delegates agreed that if there
was to be a Co-operative wholesale depot in Scotland, the
Scottish societies must put it there without longer delay. The
formal resolution, which initiated the Scottish Co-operative-
Wholesale Society, was, accordingly, put to the meeting. Moved
by Mr Gabriel Thomson of St Rollox Society, seconded by
Mr Matthew Ireland of Renfrew, and carried nem. con. The
resolution was as follows : —
" That -this conference, con-vinced of the advantage and necessity of
a -wholesale agency, and seeing that the North of England. Co-operative
Wholesale Society cannot extend a branch to Scotland, hereby appoint
a committee to diffuse information, make the necessary arrangements
for commencing a -wholesale co-operative society in Glasgo-w, and in
the meantime to make use of the North of England Society for the-
supply of our -wants as shall be deemed desirable."
The conference determined that there should be no delay, and
the coromittee appointed comprised some noted hustlers. Mr
James Borrowman, the chairman, was already a vigorous propa-
gandist. He was the son of Mr John Borrowman, of Edinburgh,
who was one of the founders of St Cuthbert's Co-operative
Association in 1859, ^^^ i^^ S'^s* president, from 1859 till 1866. '
James was a stalwart of Co-operation in Ayrshire ; ' but he was'
a virile writer, and the columns of the Co-operator and of th&
64 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Scottish Co-operator bore witness to his versatility and his gifts.
John M'Innes, who, more than any other, may be venerated as
the father of the Scottish Wholesale Society because of the
persistent vigour with which he carried on the agitation for five
years before his proposition materiahsed, was the secretary of
the committee. Thomas Nairn, of Paisley, who had been
secretary of the Provident Society, and who had lost money in
the society's early struggles but still retained faith in Co-operative
principles and enthusiasm for Co-operative developments, was
a member of the committee. Richard Lees, who had been a
member of the first committee of St Cuthbert's, its secretary
from 1862 till 1868, a guiding spirit among the pioneers, and a
wise counsellor in times of trial, was another member. Joseph
Henderson, also a member of the committee, was a litterateur
at times, but he was president of Dunfermline Society from
1864 till 1867, and, according to the late Mr Daniel Thomson's*
estimate, he had that breezy optimism which would be helpful
to a committee charged with a new and serious venture. Mr
James Cunningham, of Galston Society, and Mr John Duncan,
of Glasgow Eastern Society, were also members of the committee
which was to make the establishment of the S.C.W.S. an
accomplished fact. The committee reahsed what the S.C.W.S.
directors have fully realised in recent years — ^namely, the value
of an advertising department. They set about advertising the
proposed formation of a wholesale society, and a comprehensive*
statement of the objects of the proposed federation was issued
in a form which addressed itself to every Co-operative society
in Scotland. The committee desired the fullest information to
be set before the next conference, so that the conference would
know exactly what to expect, and the result of the investigations
so carried out was the compilation of a statement which would
do credit to the well-financed Survey Committee of the well-
organised Co-operative Union of to-day. Statistics of co-
operative societies in Scotland were not pubUshed by the Registrar
as the statistics of societies in England and Wales were. The
Scottish Co-operator constantly urged that the Scottish Registrar
should be compelled to furnish details of these societies, and so
effectively did he pursue the subject that, in September 1867,
on the motion of Mr Crum Ewing, M.P. for Paisley^ the House
* S.C.W.S. Director, 1887-1911.
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HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 65
of Commons ordered an annual return of Co-operative societies
in Scotland similar to that provided by Mr Tidd Pratt, the English
Registrar. Towards the end of 1867, Mr Carnegie Ritchie issued
his first return. It dealt with the year ending December 1866,
but it satisfied nobody particularly. The Scottish Co-operator
described it as a " burlesque," and the English Co-operator did
not even quote any of its figures because " though compiled on
the authority of the law, it is the merest shadow of what it ought
to be." Not having much help from the law, the conunittee in
charge of the preliminary arrangements in connection with the
establishment of the Wholesale Society had to gather its own
statistics from the societies known to be in existence. The next
conference was to be held at the New Year ; and the committee
arranged that there should be a conference in Whyte's Hotel,
Glasgow, on ist January, and a similar conference in Buchanan's
Temperance Hotel, Edinburgh, on the following day. Forty
societies, representing a combined membership of 9,254, with
capital amoimting to £34,888, and with aggregate sales of
;f258,399 per annum, sent delegates to one or other of the con-
ferences ; some, indeed, were represented at both. This was
encouraging ; but the committee were able to present particulars
relating to societies in Scotland which left no doubt whatever
in the minds of the delegates as to the wisdom of going ahead.
We owe that committee a posthumous vote of thanks for their
inquiries, even if they had not to run the gaimtlet of criticism
like the present Survey Committee. Their Survey Report is
worthy of reproduction,* as it can have been seen by very few
Co-operators of the present generation, and it wiU prove useful
to those who study Co-operative developments. The Registrar's
return, pubhshed in December 1867, covered 118 societies, and
gives only the societies, the value of property held, the average
stock, and the profits for 1866. The first Scottish Survey Report,
for which we have to thank John M'Innes and his committee,
was presented on ist January 1868, and it dealt with 134 societies.
The details given showed what a substantial nucleus of trade
the Scottish Wholesale Society would have, presuming
that Co-operative committees showed the same loyalty to the
Wholesale Society that they expected their members to show
to their local societies. The report also showed the great field
* See Appendix II.
E
66 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
that had still to be won for Co-operation ; and the two conferences
agreed that the first wholesale establishment should be in Glasgow,
and that, if success attended their efforts, Edinburgh was to be
the next centre of enterprise. The conferences added to the
members of the committee with a view to making it more repre-
sentative, and instructed the committee to prepare rules on the
model of the rules of the English Wholesale Society, print and
forward copies of the rules, along with an apphcation form for
shares, to each society in Scotland, and arrange for a delegate
meeting to consider any suggested alteration or amendment of
the rules, and also to elect a committee of management. The
committee entrusted with this work comprised Mr Borrowman
and Mr MTnnes (who still acted as chairman and secretary
respectively) ; William Macgregor, the new president of Dimf erm-
hne Society, had succeeded Joseph Henderson on the committee ;
James Cimningham, of Galston, and Richard Lees, of St
Cuthbert's, still retained their places ; Gabriel Thomson, of St
Rollox, and Archibald M'Lean, of Govan, represented Glasgow,
and Daniel Kay, of Alva, and John Poole, of Portobello, com-
pleted the number. Foundations were laid immediately, and in
May 1868 the Scottish Co-operator announced that the rules of
the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd. were now
registered, and would be shortly in the hands of the various
committees throughout Scotland, along with a sheet for the
acceptance of shares.* " In the first instance," it was explained,
" societies with a hundred members will need only to contribute
£5, and, in three months thereafter, the same amount, in all, £10 —
a sum which any society presuming to do business should be able
to raise, or to borrow from any of their members, as on this
amount of capital the rules provide for a return of 5 per cent."
The editor exhorted societies to reaUse the importance of joining
up at once, and of not putting off till a later time, as that might
be disastrous. He referred to the initial trials which had beset
the North of England Society, but he also told how the trials and
obstacles had been overcome by the " energy, perseverance, ability,
and self-denial " of the management of the society. " In a truly
Co-operative spirit," he concluded, " the directors of the North of
England Society have kindly offered to instruct us by giving us
the benefit of their experiences in management and in bujdng."
* See Appendix V.
HOW THE S.C.W.S. WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE 67
Such is the record of the development of the seed of wholesale
Co-operation in Scotland. When the next meeting was held,
the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd. was in existence.
That momentous meeting was to begin the business of the
society ; and the committee, who had prosecuted their labours
so successfully, were to hand over the reins of power and the
burden of responsibihty to the first board of management. AU
did not give up their labours ; some were given new duties in
connection with " the Wholesale " ; but as a provisional com-
mittee their task was accomplished, and we may give them their
vote of thanks here. It had taken them five years to carry out
their project — five years when travelling facihties were imperfect,
when the experience that working-men had of business methods
was not extensive but perhaps lacking, and when the promoters
of the new society were drawn from places far apart. Their job
took them long, but they did it well ; and their own reward was
little more than the " clean, clear joy of creation."
The Scottish Wholesale Society was not the only thing they
created during those five years." The conferences that were held
also made easy the formation of the Scottish Section of the
Co-operative Union. Similar conferences were being held
periodically in England, and these, with the Scottish conferences,
led to the estabhshment of the Central Co-operative Board,
which eventually became the Co-operative Union of Great
Britain. As was eminently fitting, James Borrowman and John
M'Innes were the first Scottish representatives on that board.
Nor did that exhaust their good work. The conferences conduced
to a fellowship which might never have been created but for the
engrossing business that brought delegates from various parts
of the country together. They gave rise to frequent and regular
correspondence between societies ; they stimulated Co-operative
thought, fired Co-operative ambitions, created an interest in
Co-operation among those who were not Co-operators, and they
led to a considerable increase in the number of members and in
the number of societies, even before the S.C.W.S. finally took
shape. So much was this the case that Mr Carnegie Ritchie, the
Scottish Registrar, reported in 1867 that these Co-operative
societies were increasing very largely, and that he had received
a letter from a gentleman in whose neighbourhood a store had
been established. " Since the formation of the society," the
68 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
gentleman wrote, "the aspect of the neighbourhood has been
quite changed." He added that " the people were given to
drunkenness, but now, there being no spirits allowed in the store,
they, in place of spending their money in intoxicating liquor,
are providing for their famihes respectably and are able to help
their sick." Other gentlemen had written him who were anxious
to see similar societies formed in their neighbourhood. The
spread of such societies was hastened by the energies of those
who set about the formation of the Scottish Wholesale Society ;
but the great organisation of their creation was hke a great
potent fertiliser on the soil they had prepared.
V.
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT.
A MOMENTOUS GATHERING THE FAITH OF THE SOCIETIES THE EXECUTIVE'S
PREPAREDNESS PRELIMINARIES SETTLED — THE FIRST S.C.W.S.
ELECTION — SOCIETIES THAT TRADED WITH THE ENGLISH WHOLESALE
MADEIRA COURT, A UNIQUE ESTABLISHMENT JAMES MARSHALL
AND HIS CREDENTIALS — BUSINESS BEGUN THE EARLY RESULTS
REPORTS OF THE BOARD — GROWING SUCCESS OF THE VENTURE
LESSONS LEARNED — FAREWELL TO MADEIRA COURT — FIVE YEARS OF
EFFORT CROWNED AND A BIG CELEBRATION.
When the delegates from societies met in Whjrte's Temperance
Hotel, Glasgow, on ist August 1868, there were forty-three
present representing thirty-three_ societies. Mr Maxwell has
published Mr M'Innes's list with details of the trade of each
society. It will serve our purpose to place on record the names
of the societies and their representatives. As before, Mr M'Innes
acted as the accredited delegate for several societies that could
not be represented by delegates specially sent. One of the
societies which appointed him as a delegate was the Thurso
Society which had only been formed eighteen months before,
and which was most enthusiastic for the establishment of the
Wholesale Society. Like others concerned in the project, it
contributed one farthing per member towards the expenses of
the committee promoting the scheme. Other societies repre-
sented by Mr M'Innes were Kirkland and Penicuik. The list
of other societies and delegates is as follows : — ^Alexandria,
James Burnett and James MTntyre ; Alva, Daniel Kay ;
Barrhead, A. Johnstone and John Allan ; Bannockburn,
Alexander Meldrum and J. M'Gruther ; Bo'ness, J. Ramsay ;
Carluke, ■ — Hunter ; Cathcaet, William Shirlaw ; Catrine,
Wilham Murray ; Crosshouse, James Borrowman and John
Murdoch ; Dalziel, William Paul ; Dunfermline, William
M'Gregor and John Spence ; St Cuthbert's (Edinburgh),
Richard Lees and R. Scott ; St Rollox (Glasgow), F. Maxwell
70 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and Gabriel Thomson ; South Eastern (Glasgow), W. Robertson ;
Anderston (Glasgow), H. Fitzpatrick and J. M'Donald ;
Galston, James Cunningham ; Govan, Archibald M'Lean ;
Grahamston and Bainsford, John Logan and John Morrison ;
Kilmarnock Baking, Alexander Hunter ; Kilmarnock, F. Bain,
J. Weir, G. Merrylees ; Lochgelly, William Smith ; Mauchline
(delegate unknown) ; Newmilns, Alexander Dykes ; Port-
Glasgow, John Duguid ; Paisley Equitable, J. Thompson
and John Alexander ; Portobello, J. Poole ; Shotts, James
Brunton ; Tillicoultry, Robert Finlay ; Troon, William Neil ;
and Thornliebank, John Gibb.
When that meeting assembled, it must have been with a
singular thrill that the chairman, James Borrowman, opened
the proceedings. A big task had been undertaken by him and
his committee. The delegates were there watchful, hopefiil,
eager, but with some httle share of the feehng of those about
to embark upon some big adventure. These men — the com-
mittee and the delegates — ^were not very seriously concerned
about what their societies would have to invest in the undertaking,
although that was not a matter which they discussed Hghtly,
for their own savings constituted part of their societies' capital.
Their chief concern was for the future. The decade which was
nearing its close was one of very considerable hardship. The
American Civil War and its industrial disorganisation had given
the decade an inauspicious opening, and the fresh wars on the
Continent added to the distress. Further disorganisation and
hardship had been caused by the London financial panic which
followed Overend & Gumey's failure. From these causes there
was considerable anxiety in the minds of the working people,
which was faithfully reflected in those representative men and
women gathered in Whyte's Hotel. They were perhaps unable
to reason out theories of action and reaction ; but they were,
nevertheless, fully capable of recognising what it meant to them
that the cost of hving, which had fallen somewhat after the
American Civil War, rose again when the Continental wars of
1866 were at their height. Their thoughts, then, at that
meeting in August 1868 were of the future. They believed
that, on paper, the formation of a Co-operative Wholesale
Society for Scotland would be a great boon. They had visions
of a great organisation spreading its roots ever5w'here ; reducing
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 71
the cost of living, improving wages, shortening the working day,
sweetening the lot of the toiler ; but the future they saw may
have seemed too bright. In their minds the faint glimmer of
fear hngered. They had seen Co-operative societies go to
pieces : Had it not happened to the society which had been
chiefly responsible for calling the first conference in 1864 to
consider the project that was to materialise that day ? What,
after all, if their hopes proved vain ? If this big tower of
strength which they hoped to build went to pieces, with its
promises unfulfilled, and bringing despair and ruin upon the
workers whose money was involved, what then ?
We respect those men for their fears ; but we would scarcely
have forgiven them if they had allowed those fears to overpower
them. They had Faith, and that faith removed the mountain
of doubt. The chairman and his committee knew their
responsibiUties. As they faced that meeting there burned into
their minds the hopes they had held out when they made their
appeal to the httle Co-operative world to adopt the policy of
estabhshing a wholesale society. Now that the first steps were
taken, and the delegates had assembled to launch the new
venture, these committeemen — and the chairman and secretary
who had been the chief apostles of it — must have felt hke a
newly constituted Cabinet in which the country has declared
its confidence and which had reached the stage of redeeming
its pledges by definite action. Trying to picture that meeting,
in the hght of our personal and intimate recollection of more
than fifty meetings of the Wholesale Society, we see in it some
of the commendable features of the S.C.W.S. meetings of to-day.
It was not called a Wholesale meeting ; it was only a delegate
meeting ; but the S.C.W.S. had been constituted and the
delegates were there to set about the practical business.
Borrowman and M'Innes ! They were excellent officers. They
did what the presidents and secretaries of the Wholesale Society
whom we have known have made an invariable practice — they
anticipated questions and difficulties that would arise — and they
were ready to answer, if not to satisfy, the delegates upon all
points. These two officials initiated the now common practice
of the EngHsh and Scottish Wholesale Societies, which always
consult one another in their difficulties. The chairman and
secretary had visited the estabhshment of the North of England
72 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Society. They had seen through its premises, investigated its
methods, and been enlightened by the officials at Manchester,
who had none of the fears that the managers of a profit-seeking
firm would have had over the inauguration of a similar concern
to their own preparing to do business which they might have
undertaken. These emissaries had learned a good deal, and
their acquired knowledge was to be used, not for selfish purposes,
and not only for the good of the Co-operators of Scotland, but
— as the Co-operative societies were open to all upon equal
terms — for the good of the whole populace. They were
encouraged by what they had seen, and these two, at any rate,
looked forward to the Scottish venture with considerable con-
fidence. The forty-one other delegates present were, in turn,
stimulated by the reports submitted by the chairman who, on
an analysis of the trade done, saw ahead the day when the
Wholesale would be running its own flour mills' conducting its
own sugar refinery, and its own tobacco and soap factories.
The rules that had already been drafted by the committee
were submitted for final adoption, and after being amended
they were approved. They provided that the value of the
share should be £25 each — an advance on the original proposal
that they should be £10 — and they were withdrawable. The
withdrawable shares were a source of weakness from the
beginning. The delegates were chiefly concerned about securing
for the societies a ready means of obtaining their money if they
wanted it ; and it was thought that some societies would
remain outside the " Wholesale " rather than lock up money
which they would not be able to get when it was needed. From
that point of view the withdrawable shares seemed preferable ;
but capital so provided would have made it impossible for the
Wholesale Society to engage in wholesale business successfully.
That was not fully realised by everybody at the time, and it
was, therefore, on a foundation of withdrawable shares that
the great business. began.
The first board of directors, or, in the language of the period,
" the committee," was appointed at that meeting. James
Borrowman, it was decided, should be general manager and
cashier. It was a tribute to his work and to his displayed and
proved abiUty. Before very long the members regretted that
he had not been left as chairman of the directors. That opens
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 73
up a story which will come at its proper place ; but his appoint-
ment as manager necessitated the election of a new chairman,
and the choice feU upon Mr George Merrylees, one of the
Kilmarnock delegates. Mr John Allan, of Barrhead, was
elected secretary, and Mr Gabriel Thomson, of St Rollox, was
elected treasurer ; the other directors being Messrs John Hall,
Portobello ; Daniel Kay, Alva ; William Smith, Lochgelly ;
A. Meldruni, Bannockbum ; George Doddsj Penicuik ; and
Richard Lees, St Cuthbert's. The auditors appointed were
Archibald M'Lean (Govan Equitable) and James Inghs (Paisley
Equitable).
The societies so represented in the management committee
had aU given evidence of their zeal for the propagation of
wholesale Co-operation ; and, with the apparent exception of
Bannockburnand Portobello, they were all purchasers from the
North of England Society. As has been recorded earlier,
delegate meetings had recommended the societies in Scotland
to purchase goods, when they could, from that society. The
recommendation was not very extensively carried out ; but
some societies had acted upon it, and Edinburgh seems to have
led in this.
The " board " lost no time in getting to work. Within a
month they had secured premises at 15 Madeira Court, Glasgow.
The Court does not exist now. The railway has obliterated
many interesting landmarks, and the present, generation of
Co-operators would have been ready to make a pilgrimage of
thanksgiving to Madeira Court to commemorate the S.C.W.S.
Jubilee had it not been that it has had to give place to the
Caledonian Railway Company's extension at Argyle Street.
The Court was entered by a " wide-pend," which, if it still
remained, would be under the west end of the railway bridge
on the south side of Argyle Street, nearly opposite the end of
Hope Street. The Court was a veritable hive of industry. No
fewer than thirty-five firms were located in the Court. They
comprised brewers, commission agents, produce merchants,
muslin and print manufacturers, hatters, bonnet makers, tea
merchants, wholesale grocers, confectionery manufacturers, and
others. At No. 15 there were four other "firms " besides the
S.C.W.S. The " Wholesale Co-operative " probably counted for
very little in the eyes of the prosperous manufacturers and com-
74 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
mission agents who had their establishments there. Some of the
" Wholesale's " old neighbours would Uke it less to-day ; but
then the S.C.W.S. millions had not arrived, and its neighbours
probably did not regard it as a cpncem that was Ukely to set
the heather on fire. They miscalculated. The place was
economically equipped, and the business was inaugurated. It
was probably the only estabhshment set up by the S.C.W.S.
without the help and guidance of Mr Robert Macintosh, and
that fact alone should make Madeira Court unique in the records
of the Society. Mr Borrowman was an organiser with a good
deal of shrewdness ; but he could not manage without an expert
grocery and provision buyer, and the committee were seriously
exercised about the selection of a capable man for the post, for
they recognised that upon their choice depended whether
wholesale Co-operation would have a chance to succeed. A
mistaken choice might shatter the hopes of the hard working
men and women who placed so much reUance in the principle
of Co-operation, and might do the whole movement incalculable
harm. It was a contingency that did not arise, for the committee
made an excellent selection in Mr James Marshall. What were
his credentials ? He was a native of Tillicoultry, where a
Co-operative society had been estabhshed when he was sixteen
years of age. He was an acting secretary of the society although
apprenticed to the grocery trade there ; and it may be mentioned,
also, that it was at the express wish of the manager of the Society
that he did enter the service. He did such excellent service
there that, when the Alva Bazaar Society was in the reverse of
a prosperous condition, the S.O.S. signal was sent to Tilhcoultry
and Mr Marshall was pressed to become salesman at Alva. He
pulled the society round, and put it on the straight road to the
prosperity it now enjoys. Those who remember James Marshall
in his later years know that he never lost the virtues which he
possessed in the early years of his Co-operative service in the
HiUfoots district. He was a capable business man ; he knew
his job ; he was never a man who regarded the business as the
property of someone else. Painstaking and conscientious in
the extreme, he was as scrupulously attentive to his work as if
the business of the Alva Society or the TiUicoultry Society was
his own. He was trusted by the people of the Hillfoots as few
men are'^trusted, and he was respected to the highest degree by
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT
75
those who did business with the society either as sellers or as
purchasers. These were the merits that commended him to the
committee of the S.C.W.S., and which brought him into the
service which he adorned for thirty-four years.
We are indebted to the secretary of the C.W.S., Mr T. Brodrick,
for the following list of the Scottish societies that had trading
relations with the C.W.S. at this time : —
• Began
Trading with
E. C.W.S.
• Ceased
Tradinar witli
E.C.W.S.
* Became
Member of
E.C.W.S.
• Membership
withEC.W.S.
Ceased.
tBdinbro'
jBdinbro' (Fountainbridi^e) .
Busby '.
■(■Bdmbro' (Gilbert Street) ....
tEdinbro' (Grove Street)
tEdinbro' (St Outhbert's) ....
Alexandria
Thomliebant
Alva
Barrhead
Crosshousr-
Dumbarton
Eyemouth
Galston
Grangemouth
East Kilbride
Glasgow (St EoUox)
Glasgow (Springbank Bead)
Kilmarnock
West Wemyss
Dunfemaline
Mauchline
Penicuik
Paisley Equitable
Paisley Provident
Annan
Hawick
Kingskettle
liochgelly
Hontrose
Port-Qlaagbw
Tmioonltry
Balziel
Johnstone Flax Mill
Brechin
25th April 1865
24th April
24th Oct.
24th April
1866
1865
1866
10th April 1869
23rd Oct. 1866
23rd Oct.
13th April
1867
12th Oct. 1867
11th Jan. 1868
11th April 1868
10th Oct. 1868
24th
23rd
13th
10th
9th
10th
10th
14th
9th
10th
8th
11th
10th
11th
8th
23rd
13th
10th
12th
10th
9th
April
Oct.
April
April
Jan.
April
Oct.
Oct.
July
Oct.
Jan.
July
Oct.
July
Oct.
Oct.
April
Oct.
Oct.
April
Jan.
1866
1866
1872
1869
1869
1869
1868
1871
1870
1868
1870
1868
1868
1868
1870
1866
1867
1868
1867
1869
1869
23rd Oct. 1866
13th April 1867
23rd Oct. 1866
13th April 1867
12th Oct. 1867
9th Oct.
.Sth Jan,
9th July 1870
12th Oct. 1867
10th Oct. 1868
12th Oct. 1867
11th July 1868
9th Jan. 1869
9th Jan
1869
1869
1869
1869
* The dates in these columns are the dates of the quarter or half-year's closing
t J It appears that these entries refer to only two Edinburgh societies.
Mr Borrowman settled down to do the whole of the business
of the S. C.W.S. with a staff scarcely larger in numbers than
that required in the telephone room at Morrison Street to-day.
He and Mr Marshall, with three or four dispatch men and an
office boy, sufficed. The first cash book records that the first
payment made for goods was to a Union Street firm for a supply
of butter. St Rollox Society, whose representative moved the
formal resolution which established the society, had the honour
76 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
pi being the first society to which payment for a sale is credited.
Mr John Allan, the secretary, reviewing the beginning a few
years later, spoke of the suspicion with which the new concern
was regarded by some of its interested rivals. Commercial
travellers, he said, seemed shy about visiting the Society, and
there were incidents of an unpleasant nature in connection with
orders sent to merchants which (to quote Mr AUan) showed a
suspicion " that this new Wholesale house, with the uncommon
designation, had a relationship to what is termed the ' Long
Firm.' " If it took commercial travellers some little time to
accustom themselves to the S.C.W.S., it also took the buyers
for retail Co-operative societies some Uttle time. They knew
the Wholesale Society was established for them, and that it was
financed by their societies, and that they ought to purchase
what they could purchase from it. At the same time, there were
trade friendships estabhshed here and there which some
Co-operators were reluctant to break because it seemed unkind.
The trade was not so large as the promoters of the Wholesale
had expected. The Survey Report for 1867, already referred
to*, showed that the trade of the Scottish societies exceeded
;£8oo,ooo per annum. That had given great hopes to the S.C.W.S.
committee. They knew quite well that they could not hope to
get the whole of the trade of these societies ; for the Wholesale
was dealing in little but groceries and provisions, some Alloa
yam, and a few other odds and ends ; and even had their ware-
house provided for everything, it would have been next to
impossible to undertake extensive trade with some of the more
remote societies in certain classes of goods which the societies
regarded as local produce. However, there were forty societies
represented at the meetings held in Glasgow and Edinburgh in
January 1868 when the committee were directed to proceed
with the estabhshment of the Wholesale. The committee
naturally looked to those societies, but there were only thirty
societies represented at the meeting in the following August ;
and when the first quarterly reportf of the committee was com-
pleted, it was seen that out of the forty societies that had agreed
to establish the Wholesale Society, and out of the 134 societies
in Scotland, only twenty-eight had become shareholders or
members. Whatever total turnover the committee expected,
* See Appendix II. f See Appendix VI.
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 77
the actual sales were somewhat disappointing, for the quarter's
trade was only £9,697. An analysis prepared for the S.C.W.S.
Majority Celebration showed that these figures represented the
purchases of fifty-six societies including the twenty-eight share-
holders ; and that of the £9,697, £7,900 represented the
purchases of the shareholders, whose total investments amounted
to £1,795. These investments included, besides share capital,
loan capital advanced by Kilmarnock, Alva, Barrhead, and
Bannockbum societies. The analysis showed that the share-
holding societies represented roughly about one-fifth of the
total membership of local societies in Scotland ; they had share
capital amounting to about £18,000, and their total sales were
£38,000. Viewed in the light of that analysis, the pioneer
societies were creditably loyal to the new Wholesale Society.
These societies were Crosshouse, Kilmarnock, Tillicoultry, Alva,
Newmilns, St RoUox, Barrhead, Galston, Govan, Bo'ness,
Menstrie, Cathcart, Bannockbum, Thurso, Portobello, St
Cuthbert's, Penicuik, Lochgelly, Paisley Provident, Paisley
Equitable, Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Thomliebank, Port-
Glasgow, Dalziel, Troon, and Dunfermline.
The net profit shown on the quarter's trading amounted only
to £48, I2s. lojd., after allowing the fixed rate of interest on
capital, and depreciating fixtures by £9, 17s. The £48, 12s. lojd.
might have gone in dividends on the purchases made by the
members ; but the committee and the members agreed to set
it aside to inaugurate a reserve fund. It was the first contribu-
tion to a fund that had well exceeded half a million* before the
Society's fiftieth anniversary was reached. The members, at the
quarterly meeting on 2nd January 1869, also estabUshed the
prinpiple of a fixed contribution, in proportion to profits, to this
reserve fund which they had established. When they reviewed
the quarter's business in all its aspects, they felt satisfied on the
whole, and felt impelled to go ahead. Bigger schemes were
hinted at in the way of Co-operative enterprise, and, if these
were not ultimately carried out as then suggested, their purpose
was largely attained by other means, under Co-operative
auspices, in later years. Three months later, when the second
quarterly report appeared, the directors congratulated the
members " on the rapidly increasing business done " ; they
* With the Insurance Funds added the Reserve Fund exceeds a million.
78 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
also noted with pleasure " as an omen of future expansion,"
the increasing number of purchasing societies, as well as " the
intelligent interest evinced by many members." The sales,
which averaged ;fi,200 per week in the first quarter, had risen
to fully £1,500 per week, the total for the accounting period
being £15,592, on which, after paying working expenses, there
was a profit of £157, i6s. That the committee recommended
should be allocated as follows : — Dividend on purchases, £118, 4s.;
reserve fund, £8, 12s. ; depreciation of fixed stock, £31. This
was satisfactory, but the committee told the members that
" they could not shut their eyes to the fact that there is still
ample room for improvement." The steady tale of increases,
to which readers of Wholesale balance-sheets are accustomed,
had begun ; but the most gratif jang increase was in the number
of purchasing societies, the fifty-six of the first quarter having
become eighty-three in the second. Ten more societies were
added to the roll of customers in the third quarter, when the sales
mounted up to £17,688, and there was £260 available for
dividend. The committee, who evidently provided the formula
for successive committees, thought it wise to draw the attention
of delegates to the fact that " your business would be greatly
and profitably extended if retail societies would see it to be their
duty (as it is their true interest) to purchase exclusively through
this agency." When Lord Macaulay's traveller from New
Zealand shall take his stand upon a broken arch of London
Bridge to sketch the ruins of St Paul's, Co-operative committees
will still be found adjuring their members that it is their duty,
as it is their interest, to purchase exclusively through the societies
they themselves have established — unless, indeed, which is far
from impossible, the Co-operative Commonwealth has ere then
arrived. It is the Uttle improvement constantly advocated,
constantly efiEected, that has brought about the remarkable
growth of the Co-operative movement. Nothing seemed too
little to note in those early days ; nothing seems too little to
note in these prosperous days. In that third quarterly report
of a concern intended to revolutionise the distribution and
production of goods, it was thought of sufficient importance to
mention that arrangements had been made for supplies of Cork
and Kiel butter and of Gouda cheese. The fourth quarter
showed a continued record of progress, and, when the end of
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 79
1869 was reached and the members of the Wholesale reviewed
their first complete calendar year's efforts, they were gratified
with a turnover of £81,094, 2s. 6d. (£90,791, 9s. yd. from the
beginning of the society), which yielded £1,303, 15s., adding
£63, 9s. iid. to the reserve fund, and depreciating the fixed stock
by £129, 2s. 2d. The total capital invested in the Society was
£51.740-
The path to progress seemed to be cleared. Before other six
months had passed Robert Macintosh was engaged as a clerk.
His appointment dates from April 1870. In April 1920 Mr
Macintosh will attain the jubilee of his service with the Wholesale.
The writer has already pointed out, in an article in the Interna-
tional Co-operative Bulletin, how the Wholesale Society has
benefited during the war by having had in its service experienced
ofiicials, who have carried the Society through the stress of war
crises before. This veteran of the service, who still keeps his
finger on the Wholesale Society's great calculating machinery,
was at his desk in the old office in Madeira Court three months
before that fateful July day when the Franco-Prussian War
broke out with the suddenness of a thunderstorm, and we may
add that he has had his hand on the first set of books used by
every department of the Wholesale estabUshed since then^
Other personal interests may be mentioned here to preserve the
chronology of our history. John Alexander, of Paisley, had
become an auditor in 1869, and held the of&ce till 1902. Two
years later, in 1871, the president of the Society retired. Mr
Merrylees was one of a group of sturdy Kilmarnock Co-operators.
He had taken a leading part in the propaganda which led to the
establishment of the Wholesale, and his term of presidency was
one of dififtculty, as the piloting of a new organisation must
always be when it is manned by conscientious of&cials. Mr
Merrylees discharged his duties with much acceptance, and his
retirement from the chair was much regretted by his colleagues
and by the delegates over whose deliberations he presided at
the quarterly meetings. On giving up his post he went to
Gloucester, where he devoted his energies to politics under the
Liberal banner. In 1881 he was appointed works manager for
the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Waggon Company, but in
1892 he resigned, and entered into business on his own account.
Vigorous till the last, he was on his way home from a Liberal
80 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
gathering in October 1908 when he was knocked down by a
cyclist and slightly injured ; but the shock proved too much for
the man of seventy-three, and he died before help reached him.
One notable innovation in 1870 cannot be ignored. The very
earhest Co-operators, whose efforts in Scotland have been
recorded, had set their minds upon improving the conditions
of labour. It was with that end in view that they contemplated
" employing themselves." Consideration for their employees
was a distinguishing characteristic of Co-operative societies,
not only in Scotland but in England also. The view of the
Co-operative society was that there must be something in the
Co-operative service to raise it above the level of other employ-
ment, and it was with that end in view that the S.C.W.S., in
October 1870, decided that all employees should be paid a bonus
on wages at a rate double the rate of dividend on purchases. It
was a boon to the employees if viewed only as a financial advan-
tage ; but it recognised that the worker, as well as the purchaser,
contributed to the success of the business, and was entitled to
share in the profits. The bonus had been paid by some, though
not all, societies, and, even in this early form adopted by the
Wholesale Society, it was very much appreciated by the
employees, and it served a useful purpose. The system had its
critics ; but ideaUsm prevailed for many years.
The employees were few in number, and that, perhaps, made
the inauguration of a profit-sharing scheme a matter of less
difficulty than it would have been in later years. The numbers
were growing nevertheless. The success of the first two years
begat success. Additional purchasers and additional members
were attracted, and each succeeding quarter saw an increase
in the sales. The comnuttee, who were mildly jubilant over
their turnover of ;f8i,ooo in 1869, s%w a total of £105,000
recorded for the following year ; 1871 brought an increase of
over £50,000, and 1872 yielded a total turnover of over a quarter
of a million. The figure almost overwhelmed the committee.
The warehouse was hopelessly inadequate, and a site was
purchased in Paisley Road in May 1872. This site, extending
to 1,437 square yards, and costing £5,031, i6s. 5d., was the
nucleus of the wonderful aggregation of land and property now
owned in the Kingston district of Glasgow. While these pre-
Uminary steps were taken — and the expenditure of £5,000 on
m
I-
z
u.
O
SOME VETERAN OFFICIALS IN 1918
(1) E. Ross, Grocei-y Buyer ; appointed to the Staff in 1872 as Assistant to James Marshall.
(2) D. Gardiner; entered the Service in 1873 when the Society commenced the Drapery trade.
<3) A. Gray ; Director in 1873, and Secretary in 1874, when he was appointed Cashier.
<4) W. F. Stewart ; Director, 1S71 ; Manager of Leith Branch, 1877 ; Commercial Manager of
Flour Mills since 1894.
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 81
land was no small matter to a Society which at that time had
less than ^30,000 of capital aU told — other provisions had to
be made to meet the increasing trade. Mr Marshall was finding
his duties as buyer too much for him and an assistant had to
be provided. The committee, on the advice of Mr Marshall,
appointed Mr Ebenezer Ross, who was also the son of a
TilUcoultry Co-operator, and who had given his services to
Co-operation in the Hillfoots. Mr Ross, then young, devoted
to his task, cooped up for a considerable part of his time in
the dingy quarters in Madeira Court, is now the presiding genius
in one of the most palatial grocery estabUshments in Glasgow,
owned by the same Society which then called him to the
service of the Co-operators of Scotland.
The committee's chief concern for nearly a year was the
building of the new warehouse. Plans were prepared by Mr
John Spence, architect, Renfield Street, Glasgow, and a building
was erected to which Co-operators of that period applied such
descriptions as " extensive and substantial," " commodious,"
" imposing and pleasant looking." Co-operative readers who
ponder over these adjectives and identify the building as the
eastern block of the group which occupies the triangular site
bounded by Dundas Street, Paisley Road, and Morrison Street,
will realise from what small beginnings the S.C.W.S. as they
know it has come. It is reckoned as of no value, according to
the present-day balance-sheets of the Society ; but it repre-
sented an enormous part of the assets of the pioneers. Its
opening, on Friday, 19th September 1873, was the occasion for
the first of many festivals held under the auspices of the
S.C.W.S. A great gathering of 400 representative Co-operators
assembled for dinner in the afternoon in the upper part of the
warehouse. Around the walls of the warehouse were displayed
specimens of the products of some of the existing Co-operative
manufacturing societies for which the Wholesale Society acted
as agents. The Piaisley Co-operative Manufacturing Society
figured among the exhibitors. It is the only exhibiting society
that has survived the ravages of time, and already negotiations
have been set on foot by the Wholesale Society for the transfer
of the Paisley Manufacturing business to the S.C.W.S. It is
of interest to recall that the other societies concerned in the
exhibition were the Auchtermuchty Manufacturing Society,
82 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
which was formed in 1862 to provide constant employment for
the handloom weavers ; the Hawick Hosiery Company, formed
in 1872 as a means of putting an end to a strike ; the Dunfermline
Manufacturing Society, brought into existence by reason of
the success of the DunfermUne Co-operative Distributive Society ;
the Lurgan Damask, Linen, and Handkerchief Manufacturing
Society, estabhshed on the collapse of a tfade union and twice
saved from collapsing itself by the exertions of the Wholesale
Societies of England and Scotland ; the Eccles and Patricroft
Society, which was also the creation of a group of handloom
weavers. Other societies which showed specimens of their
work — societies in which Scottish Co-operators were afterwards
to have a more intimate concern— were the Scottish Ironworks
Company and the Glasgow Co-operative Cooperage Company.
The gathering on that occasion was a memorable one. Doing
the honours were the chairman, Mr Alexander Meldnmi ; the
secretary, Mr John Allan ; the treasurer, Mr G. Thomson ; and
the directors of the Society — Messrs J. Stevenson, Kilmarnock ;
George Bell, AUoa ; J. Douglas, Auchterarder ; J. Jack, Vale
of Leven ; WiUiam Brown, LochgeUy ; Walter Swan, Bathgate ;
James Scotland, Perth ; J. Murphy, Lanark ; and P. M'Shane,
Johnstone. Present also on the platform were " the salesmen,"
Messrs Marshall and Ross. Delegates were present from the
societies interested in the Wholesale Society in Scotland, and
it will no doubt delight Co-operative guildswomen to know
that the company included ladies; but there were, besides,
quite a number of distinguished Co-operators from England.
Among these notables were G. J. Holyoake, Lloyd Jones, James
Crabtree (the president of the C.W.S., Manchester), William
Nutt^U (the secretary of the Co-operative Congress), James
Howell (ex-secretary of the Reform League), and others ; while
messages expressing regret for absence, and good will for the
new venture, were received from W. Morrison, M.P., ; Thomas
Hughes, M.P. ; Auberon Herbert, M.P. ; G. Anderson, M.P. ;
and J. M. Ludlow. The chairman expressed what he believed
to be the view of all present when he said that the new
warehouse was " a noble monument of the past success of the
Society." Notwithstanding that, he urged the societies in
Scotland to rise to a more complete appreciation of the useful-
ness of the Wholesale. " Supposing," he said, " some benevolent
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 83
gentleman had contributed money or built his warehouse for
the purpose of supplying goods to the working-classes at
wholesale prices ; would he not have been called a great
philanthropist ? And would he not have deserved the title ? "
In that opening speech Mr Meldrum, who is still ahve and
resident among his friends in Scotland, laid down in a single
sentence the whole Co-operative creed when he said : "I hold
that the working people should never depend upon any rich
man to help them." As showing what the president of the
Wholesale Society thought of the industrial position in those
days, let us quote one point from Mr Meldrum's interesting
speech — ^interesting even after the lapse of forty-eight years,
for the same doctrine is still being preached. The passage is
this : " Permit me to say one word regarding my opinions to
trade unions, and particularly , . . the miners. Instead
of their hoarding up their money . . . and strugghng with
the owners of coal pits . . . working men who believe
themselves to be slaves can, by means of Co-operation, make
themselves free by becoming their own employers." It is a
call to the trade unions that Co-operators have been making
with renewed sincerity especially during recent years. Mr
John Allan's contribution to the oratory of that afternoon was
not intended to be a sermon to the converted. It was a plain
narrative — ^Mr John Allan was always practical — of what the
Wholesale Society had done and could do if Co-operators in
Scotland fuUy realised the power of coUectivist effort. The
president of the Wholesale Society of Manchester paid warm
tribute to the Co-operators of Scotland for the "very, rapid
progress " that had already been made by their Wholesale
federation. The afternoon's proceedings were also rendered
interesting because of the brief exposition of the Co-operative
sentiment, or Co-operative view, contained in the speech
deHvered by Mr Holyoake. " What Co-operation sought to
establish in the world was not benevolence — not humanitarianism
— but equity." Another very definite lead given to Co-operation
at that gathering was in the speech of Dr. Rutherford, of
Newcastle, chairman of the Ouseburn Engine Works — a.
Co-operative venture — ^who, describing the needs of the people,
the number of mouths to be filled, the quantity of foods that
had to be brought from overseas, said : " I do not see why
84 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
there should not be Co-operative ships, sailors, and engines.
Shipping is a profitable thing, and yields 20 and 15 per cent.
I know of one boat which has yielded 30 per cent, on one voyage
alone. As Co-operation contributes to these profits by its
merchant trade, I do not see why it should not participate in
the profit. We must take courage, be earnest and united, and
if in combination with these we show other characteristics,
Co-operktive societies will become stronger, and form a Hnk
between conflicting interests." With the problems of the war
period still weighing upon the nation, and upon no part of the
■nation more heavily than upon the working masses, it seems
as if Dr. Rutherford stiU addresses, to the Co-operative world,
words of counsel which compel attention.
The afternoon's gathering was followed by a great meeting
in the evening, when the City Hall w'as filled, under the
presidency of Provost Bennet, of Dumbarton, who was then
president of the Scottish Co-operative Iron Works. It was a
great propaganda gathering. Three resolutions were submitted
to that meeting, by those who had spoken earUer in the day,
which placed on record the Co-operative view of the social
problem and the remedy. Those resolutions were : —
(1) " That the concurrent increase of wealth and growth of
poverty in Great Britain is an anomaly disgraceful to civilisation
and dangerous to the welfare of the country ; and that the Co-opera-
tive system in aiming at securing integrity and economy in the
business of distribution is capable of bringing about a more equitable
diffusion of the rapidly increasing wealth of the nation."
(2) " That in the opinion of this meeting the efforts made by the
various co-operative societies throughout the Kingdom to harmonise
the interests of capital and labour by promoting co-operative pro-
duction and partnership of industry are well calculated to correct
the antagonisms arising from the present relationship of the employer
and the employed."
(3) " That this meeting recognises in Co-operation the most
effective means of permanently raising the condition of the people."
We give these resolutions in full because they will focus the
attention of readers on the first declarations of the Scottish
Wholesale Society to the public outside the stores of Scotland.
They show that, while the phght of the people is somewhat
improved in the present age by the effects of Co-operation,
problems which confront the masses to-day were problems then.
The Co-operative movement has from its inception been faced
FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT 85
with the problems caused by the inequitable distribution of
wealth. Mr Lloyd Jones pointed out, in moving the first
resolution, that in the closing years of the eighteenth century
the machinery of the country had a productive capacity equal
to that of three miUion men ; and that in 1873, by various
inventions and the multipUcation of machinery, the mechanical
productive power was equal to that of 1,000 miUion men ; yet
at the latter period there were as many paupers in the country
as at the former. In other words, he explained, the development
of mechanical power, of the production of wealth, had made the
rich richer and the poor poorer. The Scottish Co-operative
Wholesale Society was one of the instruments chosen by the
people to change this. During its first five years the S.C.W.S.
made strides in that direction. It sought to give the people
some control over these wealth-creating devices so that the
wealth they created might be at the service of the people. Mr
John Allan's summary of its efforts meant that the Wholesale,
in carrying out that idea, hkd invested its money in the Paisley
Co-operative Manufacturing Society, in the Glasgow Cooperage,
and in the Oak Mill Company, thus helping these " labour
elevating institutions." It had also become the agent for the
principal Co-operative manufkcturing societies in the kingdom.
It had been during those five years the centre of Co-operative
inquiry, Co-operative aspirations, and Co-operative active
exertion. It had helped other societies to tide over troubles
by means of its advice and its business accommodation. It
had given an impetus to the formation of new societies, and
had extended and helped to consolidate Co-operative effort in
Scotland.
So much, roughly, may be claimed for the S.C.W.S. itself up
till the time of that first great demonstration ; but, in addition
to that, it had also, thus early in its career, entered into an
arrangement with the C.W.S. at Manchester for purchasing,
conjointly, whatever would be mutually advantageous. Little
remained to go to complete the fifth year's record ; but that
little meant a great deal. It was decided to estabUsh a proper
drapery department, so that this important branch of the trade
of the Wholesale Society might be put upon a better business
footing than was possible when drapery goods were sold in the
grocery departments. Mr David Gardiner, of the Bathgate
86 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Co-operative Society, was appointed to undertake the organisa-
tion of the department and to act as drapery buyer. He was
offered the prodigious salary of £iio per annum, and that was
only four shiUings per week more than he had in Bathgate.
It was not a big inducement to change his home, nor was it a
big reward for his increased responsibihty. Many friends urged
him to remain where he was ; but Mr Gardiner shouldered the
new responsibilities, and is shouldering the greater responsibilities
of the S.C.W.S. drapery department and its allied factories
to-day. Assisted by two young women, in December 1873, he
established the drapery department in a corner of the imposing
warehouse opened with so much pomp in September. He
planted a mustard-seed which took root and grew. Like most
wholesale drapery businesses, it combined for a time the
furniture, furnishings, and boot and shoe trades ; and Mr
Gardiner fathered what was destined to become a very large
business. A period which saw the S.C.W.S. estabUshed in a
warehouse of its own, built on a site for which it had paid
£5,000 in good coin of the realm ; a period which saw the
inception of a business which afterwards brought into being a
crop of great productive factories ; and a period which brought
into the service of the Wholesale three of the oldest and most
trusted servants who lived to see its jubilee attained, is not
the least important period in a memorable history. The officiials
named are not the only surviving veterans connected with that
period. " W. F. Stewart, of Penicuik," " AUan Gray, of
Bathgate," " James Murphy, of Lanark " — ^who were directors
of the period — may be identified still with the Wholesale's flour
mills, and its cash office ; and with the Lanark Co-operative
Society. Many will envy these men the satisfaction they derive
from the contemplation of that first period of five years when
they rejoiced to find the Society with 127 purchasing share-
holders and gratified at the year's turnover of £384,489, which
brought the five years' total up to a little over a milUon.
VI.
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED.
THE WHOLESALE'S ONE SERIOUS CRISIS — ^HOW THE CO-OPERATIVE IRON-
WORKS BEGAN MEN AT THE HEAD OF THE CONCERN ITS AMBITIOUS
SCHEMES THE S.C.W.S. ENDEAVOUR TO SAVE IT — THE MANAGER'S
MISTAKE WHOLESALE DELEGATES HOPE FOR SUCCESS HEATED
DISCUSSIONS AT QUARTERLY MEETINGS — ^MANAGER CRITICISED
JAMES MARSHALL SUCCEEDS JAMES BORROWMAN IRONWORKS
directors' OPTIMISTIC SPEECHES — THE CRASH WHOLESALE SOCIETY
JEOPARDISED A SOLUTION FROM PENICUIK THE LOYALTY OF THE
RETAIL SOCIETIES THE CRISIS PAST — A SALUTARY LESSON TAKEN
TO HEART.
It would have been too much to expect that the wave of
prosperity that had carried the Society along from the beginning
would not recede sometime. It did recede, and some of the
most stalwart friends of the Wholesale were alarmed. In the
whole history of the S.C.W.S. there has been no more critical
period than that which was encountered almost immediately
after the triumphs celebrated in the opening of the Paisley
Road warehouse. The crisis was brought about by the collapse
of the Scottish Co-operative Ironworks Company, a concern to
which reference has been made earUer, in which a good many
co-operators were shareholders, and in which nearly all the
societies connected with the Wholesale were involved through
the Wholesale Society's association with it.
The Ironworks Company, like some of the other productive
concerns mentioned in the last chapter, had its origin in labour
unrest — even then no new thing. The engineers — and Clyde
engineers, too — ^had been conducting an agitation for shorter
hours, and the agitation succeeded tolerably well. That was in
1872. When the struggle was over " a number of the leaders
who had become publicly known through their advocacy of
working-class interests were discharged from their various work-
shops. In these circumstances it was proposed that a co-
88 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
operative iron company should be formed, and meetings that
were held in May and June (1872) eUcited promises of support
which justified the prosecution of the scheme."* So the idea
grew. James Borrowman, the manager of the S.C.W.S., was a
whole-hearted supporter of the scheme. He and others delivered
lectures at all the trade meetings to which they had access, and
on 6th July 1872, in St Enoch's Hall, Glasgow, there was a
general meeting of those interested, and steps were taken for its
formation. " The Glasgow artisans interested learned that a
number of artisans in Dumbarton were labouring in a similar
direction, their special object being to commence shipbuilding
on the co-operative system." j The two groups of enthusiasts
joined their forces together, and resolved to combine the idea of
a co-operative ironwork with the idea of a co-operative ship-
building and engineering concern. Rules were drawn up and
duly sanctioned by the Registrar ; and a directorate was con-
stituted, which comprised men who were connected with the
various branches of the trade, and practically acquainted with
its requirements. The Company was registered under the
Industrial and Provident Societies Act and the Companies Act,
and the share capital was fixed at ^^50,000 in £1 shares, trans-
ferable. The basis of the scheme was that capital was to be
paid 5 per cent., and labour was to be paid at the current rates
of wages, while the profit was to be equally divided at so much
per £ on capital invested and wages earned.}
The directors of the Ironworks were men of considerable
weight. Prominent Dumbarton members of the directorate
were Provost Bennet, Bailie Buchanan, and Councillor Cochrane.
Several Glasgow men were members of the board, and there were
directors also from Edinburgh, Motherwell, Airdrie, and Troon.
The shareholders were drawn from these places, where engineers
and iron workers were interested in the experiment. When it
was thought that the Company had received sufficient capital
with which to make a beginning, the directors secured ground .
' Glasgow Herald, July 1873.
t Glasgow News, November 1873.
t It will be observed that the scheme did not follow the scheme of the
Wholesale Society itself, which paid its fixed interest on capital, paid the
employees part of the profits in the form of bonus on their wages, but gave
the rest of the profits to the purchasers in the form of dividend on their
purchases.
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 89
and buildings which constituted part of an old ironworks at St
Rollox. Part of the old plant went with the building — a steam
engine, boUer, and various machine-tools and other appliances
— and comparatively early in 1873 work was commenced. The
directors were not satisfied with that venture ; and, in view of
the fact that so many of the shareholders were engaged in the
shipbuilding trades, they first leased a yard at Troon for carrying
out ship repairs, but very soon afterwards the Company purchased
about six acres of ground at Irvine for building new ships, and
for doing marine engine work in connection with the St Rollox
works. This was an ambitious venture. It would have been a
big venture for the Scottish Wholesale Society to embark upon
to-day with its big capited ; and it seems almost incredible, in
the light of our wider experience, that the Ironworks Company
should have attempted it when we discover that the total share
capital subscribed by November 1873 — i.e., after having taken
on these responsibilities — was only about ^6,000. The Company
employed about 100 men at St Rollox, and the workers employed
at their Irvine yard brought the total up to nearly 250. These
men were aU shareholders ; indeed, it was a condition that
anyone in receipt of wages from the Company must be a share-
holder. The Glasgow Herald, in an appreciative article in the
middle of 1873, mentioned that a large number of contracts had
been completed, and there were at that time contracts on hand
to the value of about £6,000.
A report of the first annual meeting of the shareholders, in
1873, appeared in the Co-operative News. The report submitted
by the directors was not glowing. The directors, in their
preamble to the balance-sheet, admitted that the report was
not so satisfactory as they could have desired ; "but they pointed
out the great difficulties and obstacles in the way of forming a
new company, and in the starting and carrying on of two
separate works, and they expressed the hope that, " although
short of the expectations of the more sanguine," the progress
indicated would meet with the approval of the shareholders.
They admitted that careful and energetic supervision was wanted,
and they appealed to the shareholders to appoint to the board
men who could devote time and energy to the work. They also
urged the shareholders to take up additional shares, and to use
their influence to induce others to take shares ; and the directors'
90 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
report continued, " We have every confidence in recommending
it as a safe and likely to become highly profitable investment."
Confident as to the future they may have been ; but they " did
not consider it judicious to show any profit " in that balance-
sheet. The balance-sheet was " duly criticised," according to the
Co-operative News report, but it "was adopted unanimously, and
the members were addressed by Mr Borrowman.
Even before the end of 1873 there were whisperings of a
somewhat sinister character regarding the Ironworks, but few
people paid very serious attention to them, and least of all,
apparently, did the directors of the concern. The general
impression was that the nature of the industry in which the
company was engaged was such as to require pretty heavy
expenditure before contracts could be executed ; and the result
was that societies kept investing a little capital in the company,
although they were aware that it was in debt. The sympathy
of Mr Borrowman, the manager of the Wholesale, was a very
considerable asset to the Ironworks. Like a number of other
societies, the Ironworks Company was in the habit of depositing
its cash in the Wholesale, and withdrawing it when wanted ;
but, very unUke other societies, it allowed itself to remain in
debt through overdrawing its account. The accounts presented
by the Wholesale Society to its own shareholders were models
of publicity in those days ; and they are still. In the accounts
then published the position of every shareholder was made clear,
and it was. seen that the Ironworks Company had been allowed
to overdraw or had had cash advanced. When the quarterly
meeting was held on New Year's Day 1874 the whole question
was raised by the delegates. The report of the ineeting states
that " Mr Borrowman went into the matter, and thoroughly
explained the reasons which induced him to make the advances
referred to, exonerating all in connection with the management
from blame. He explained also, not in justification of his
position, but as an expression of his faith and confidence, that
the results would prove to be successful and profitable in the
end." There was a discussion on the whole position ; but the
delegates did. not appear to think that the situation called for
any special intervention on their part, for they decided to leave
the whole matter in the hands of the committee to take whatever
steps they thought fit to safeguard the interests of the society.
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 91
The decision did not please everybody. The committee did
what they thought best to save the Ironworks, not only for the
reputation of the movement, but for the sake of the Wholesale
Society's own financial interests. Money was still being
advanced with the approval of the committee, but it transpired
that over £9,000 had been advanced without their knowledge.
Mr Borrowman was so full of optimism, and his Co-operative
zeal was so pronounced, that the committee partly shared his
hopes of the future success of the Ironworks. Mr John AUan,
the secretary, was, nevertheless, appointed cashier — a post
which Mr Borrowman had formerly coupled with that of manager.
The Ironworks Company still went on, and its directors put
a brave face upon the matter. Probably we might be disposed
to vary " brave " for another word, in the light of all the circum-
stances ; but, while the quarterly meeting of the Wholesale
Society was to be held in Glasgow on 28th March, the " annual
soiree and concert " of the shareholders and employees of the
Ironworks was held, also in Glasgow, on 27th March — the
evening before. There was a large attendance in the Assembly
Hall, Bath Street, where the soiree was held. Mr Howie,
manager of the works, presided, and the platform party included
Mr Borrowman. Others present were Provost Bennet, the.
chairman of the company ; the Rev. Robert Thomson, of Lady-
weU Church ; and others of less influence. Mr Thomson
dehvered a very eloquent address on the merits of co-operation
generally, but he described, with the greatest possible enthusiasm,
visits he had paid to the works at St RoUox and at Irvine, and
he expressed his great delight at the extent of the work the
company had on hand. " The situation of their shipbuilding
branch at Irvine could not be better," he said. He looked
forward to the time when Irvine would be too small for the
company, and hoped " they would go on building larger vessels
year after year till they would be equal to any other large ship-
building firms on the Clyde." This was very heartening to the
shareholders of the company, and no doubt reassured employees
present who were connected with other Co-operative ventures
in Glasgow, and who might be present as delegates at the S.C.W.S.
meeting the following day. Mr Borrowman spoke, and enlarged
upon the benefits of Co-operation, urging the people present to
do everything possible to extend Co-operative efforts. If he
92 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
said anything about the Ironworks particularly it is not recorded
in the Co-operative News report. Provost Bennet, however,
was most optimistic. He was sorry to say that the working-
classes of the city did not take up the spirit of Co-operation as
they ought to do, and it was to that defect on their part that he
attributed the fact that the Ironworks were " not in that high
state of perfection that they ought to be." He confessed that
the company had had " a great many difficulties to contend with
at the beginning, but they had got over these, and he was glad that
the company was now in a more satisfactory condition." That,
from the Provost, was a decidedly comforting speech for those
who had doubts about the stability of the Ironworks Company ;
and the Provost concluded by expressing the hope that " good
results would flow from that respectable and interesting
meeting."
The following day, when the Wholesale shareholders met,
the matter was gone into again. Mr Meldrum, who presided,
gave a detailed statement of the action taken by the Wholesale
board, and his account was supplemented by Mr John Stevenson,
of Kilmarnock, who was then a member of the board. A serious
discussion ensued, and men of equal Co-operative enthusiasm,
and equally sound sense, were found ranged upon opposite sides.
Archibald Ewing, of Alloa, Robert Finlay, of Tillicoultry, Leckie,
of Bannockbum, Gray, of Alva, and others, were stoutly
censorious of the board's method of dealing with the Ironworks
Company. Their attitude was that the company was in a bad
position, and that it would be unable to retrieve its fortunes,,
and so they urged that the Wholesale Society should make no^
more advances to it. Other stalwarts like John Ramsay, of
Bo'ness, John Poole, of Portobello, and R. Scott, of Edinburgh,
were firmly convinced that the board had acted wisely in the
interests of both concerns — the Wholesale and the Ironworks —
and that the board had done the best thing possible for the cause
of Co-operation ; and they stoutly urged that the Wholesale
should continue to give financial assistance to the company to-
enable it to tide over its difficulties. This, they believed, was
the only way in which the company could be saved, and the only
means by which it would ever be able to pay back the advances
already made. One fact, creditable to the democratic spirit of
the delegates assembled there, was the complete confidence
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 93
which the meeting had in the directors whom they had elected
to conduct their business ; for, despite the heat that had
arisen over this question, and the great interest that was at
stake, the delegates ultimately decided, by a very large majority,
that the matter should still be left entirely in the hands of the
directors, to be dealt with at their discretion. This confidence
was all the more creditable to the delegates and to the directors
alike because the Wholesale Society itself was somewhat pinched
for money, and at this same meeting the directors were given
power to raise a sum of £5,000 on the security of its property.
As we have already mentioned, Mr John Allan had been
appointed cashier for the society. At the meeting just
described a secretary had to be appointed. The position of
affairs generally gave a very special importance to the election.
Mr John Arnott, of Grangemouth, had been appointed by the
board to act as interim secretary. He was nominated for the
post at this meeting (although he was not able to be present) ;
but there was also nominated Messrs Allan Gray, manager of
Bathgate Society ; A. M'Lean, the manager of the Govan
Equitable Society ; T. Hodgson, of Barrhead ; and Smith, of
St RoUox. After a second ballot between Mr Arnott and Mr
Gray, the latter, who was also a member of the board, was
elected by 63 votes against 59. Mr Gray was not destined to
act as secretary for any length of time. Before the next
quarterly meeting took place Mr Allan had resigned the post of
cashier, and the committee had appointed Mr Gray to that
office, which he still adorns. Andrew Miller, of Tillicoultry, who
was commissioned to act as interim secretary in succession to
Mr Gray, was confirmed in offi.ce at the quarterly meeting of the
shareholders in June, and retained his post till death called him
in 1907. The affairs of the Ironworks had gone from bad to
worse. Deputations were sent by the company to various
co-operative meetings and conferences throughout the country
to explain the position. In May representatives attended the
East of Scotland Conference, to many of the delegates at which
one of the emissaries, Mr Balmain, of St Cuthbert's Association,
was well known. The conference agreed that delegates present
should recommend their societies to help the Ironworks by
taking shares. The members of the Penicuik Society, after
hearing a statement from a representative of the Ironworks,
94 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
agreed to take shares to the value of £io and debentures to the
value of £50, but that was only on condition that the Wholesale
Society did not press for an immediate repayment of the money
owing by the company. Kilmarnock Society subscribed £100,
and ThomUebank, Kilbarchan, and other societies also sub-
scribed to the capital of the company to help it over its
difficulties. When the quarterly meeting was held in June the
committee minutes submitted contained many references to the
Ironworks, and to the committee's deaUngs with the company.
There were again discussions of a protracted nature ; but the
minutes were approved, although several resolutions were moved.
The frequent discussions regarding the relations between the
Wholesale and the Ironworks were undoubtedly having a
deleterious effect. Stephen Cranstotm, of Penicuik, although
he had only a month or two before been favourable to his own
society taking shares and debentures in the company, moved
that a special committee should be appointed to consider the
whole workings of the Wholesale and its financial position. The
majority were satisfied, however, and his motion was rejected
in favour of a motion for the adoption of the balance-sheet.
About 140 delegates attended the September quarterly meeting —
a number that was only regarded as fair at that time — and the
greater part of the time was taken up with the same old trouble.
The affairs of the Ironworks had gone still worse, and the critics
of the board were very outspoken. A feeling of nervousness
had seized the board as well as the delegates ; a good deal of
extra work fell upon the directors, frequent meetings were
called. The balance-sheet showed sales for the quarter
amounting to ^£104,127, which was £6,000 more than for the
previous quarter ; but the sales for the preceding quarter had
been considerably less than the sales for the two quarters that
had gone before. The expenses had gone up to from 3d. to nearly
4^d. per £ of sales, and the dividend was 4d. per £, the same as
for the preceding quarter, but below that averaged for the two
preceding years. Mr Andrew Boa, a Kinning Park delegate,
was one of the keenest of the critics of the board at that meeting ;
but another was Charles O'Neil, a Paisley Provident salesman
and enthusiast, who literally riddled the bcilance-sheet and the
committee. So keen was the criticism that it was actually
moved that the balance-sheet be not approved ; but this was
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 95-
defeated on a vote by a substantial majority. Nevertheless,,
notice of a motion for the next meeting was given ; and a delegate,
writing to the Press, made it quite clear that " the real construc-
tion of the motion, pure and simple," was : " Is the present
manager to be continued at his post ? "
The directors were in a delicate position. James Borrowman
had been a strenuous worker with John M'Innes for the establish-
ment of the Wholesale. From the inception of the Society he
had been a strenuous worker for its success, and had given
ceaseless help to every Co-operative venture that had been
established or which it was sought to estabUsh. At the same
time, they could not shut their eyes to the fact that he had, of
his own initiative, and on his own responsibiUty, jeopardised
the 'Wholesale Society itself. His action was the undeniable
cause of serious divisions in the Society and in the societies that
had their money invested in the Wholesale. The effect of the-
divisions was showing itself in retarded trade increases and in
the wavering loyalty of societies. Had the board been governed,
by the ethics of the modern business mind, the manager would
have been asked to resign when it was discovered that he had.
mortgaged the money of the Society without the knowledge
of the directors appointed by the shareholders to conserve their
interests ; but they were wilhng to give liim the benefit of the-
doubt in accordance with Co-operative notions of fair play ;;
and, as we have seen, the shareholders themselves at their
quarterly meetings agreed with the board by repeatedly refusing
to interfere with what the directors believed to be the correct
course to pursue. The Ironworks, however, were on. the point
of collapse. The Wholesale directors were keeping a close eye
upon the affairs of the company, and, in order to preserve the-
Wholesale itself, they decided that Mr Borrowman would have
to resign. He submitted somewhat resentfully. Naturally, he
thought of the days and nights he had worked for the success of
Co-operation and of that Society particularly. His friends did.
not prove the best of counsellors. He communicated with
societies on the subject. His resignation was accepted in
November, and it was decided that he retire from his post at.
Christmas ; but in December he was addressing Co-operative
meetings at Glasgow, Johnstone, and elsewhere, and, to some
extent, he was rousing a feeling of S3nnpathy for himself and.
96 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
hostility to the board for its decision. The excitement which
prevailed was evidenced from the fact that over 400 delegates
attended the Wholesale shareholders' meeting on New Year's
Day, 1875. It was probably one of the most unsatisfactory
meetings the shareholders have ever had. The meeting took
place in the Nelson Street Chapel Hall, Glasgow ; the proceedings
lasted from noon till five o'clock, and the only business disposed
of was the reading of the minutes. There was a long discussion
on the minutes, then a long discussion upon the suspension of
the standing orders, which was moved in order that the delegates
might cut out the intermediate business, and get to the discussion
of the motion with regard to the management. When the
standing orders were, eventually, suspended, there was another
long discussion upon the motion itself. The friends of Mr
Borrowman, who was by this time out of office, stood up for him,
and, of course, others stood up for the committee. Mr
Borrowman had canvassed a number of the delegates personally.
Mr Alexander Mallace, the late manager of St Cuthbert's
Association, once described to the writer his last hand-shake
with James Borrowman. Mr Mallace was a delegate to that
meeting from Armadale, and, when buttonholed by Mr
Borrowman on the morning of the meeting, he told the ex-
manager : " I'm not going to promise what I'll do ; but I'm
here with a free hand. I'm going to listen to what is to be said
on both sides, and I'U vote after that according to what I think
is best." Borrowman shook his hand, and said : " I can ask no
more than that."
The meeting that day fell almost into disorder, and, at five
o'clock, it was adjourned for four weeks. At several district
Co-operative conferences the subject was raised, the serious
position of the Wholesale was discussed, and resolutions were
passed pledging support to the Society. The Ironworks
Company's debt to the Wholesale was £10,427, lis. The
company was rapidly tottering to the disastrous fall which
actually took place before the adjourned meeting was held.
What that meant to the S.C.W.S. may be judged from the fact
that its total capital, including shares, loans, and reserves at
the end of 1874 was £48,981 ; about £1,049 was reserve funds ;
less than £10,000 consisted of shares ; about £18,000 represented
loan capital, and about £*i8,ooo more represented private loans.
MORE VETERAN OFFICIALS
(1) William Miller, Manager, Furnishing Departments and Cabinet Factory, since
September 1884. (2) D. Campbell, Mannger, Printing and Allied Departments, since
July 1S87. (3) P. Robertson, Manager, Leiih Branch; entered Service, September 1887.
(4) N. Andehson, J.P-, Manager, Preserves, etc., Factories; entered Service, June 1884
(Died since Jubilee date). (5) E.v-Bailie P. Macfarlake, J.P., Man-iger, Root Department;
entered Service, April 1885,
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SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 97
The money lost in the Ironworks, therefore, represented more
than the entire amount of subscribed capital. Little wonder
there was consternation. The societies, however, ralhed
splendidly. Additional shares and loans were subscribed, nearly
£8,000 being deposited within a year. .These subscriptions
represented the savings of working men and women, who could
not afford to lose so much, but who were terribly in earnest about
keeping the Wholesale Society in existence, and at the point of
efficiency. Their additional subscriptions were to keep the
business going ; but the £10,000 had gone, and some way of
recovering the loss had to. be discovered, Penicuik Society
found the means of salvation, and sent in a proposal that one
penny per £ of the dividend be capitalised, at 5 per cent., until
the loss was wiped out. The proposal came before .the adjourned
meeting on 30th January 1875. It was proposed by Mr Barclay,
of Beith,, and Mr Cranstoun seconded, on behalf of Penicuik.
With the spirit of the Penicuik Society the delegates agreed, but
they amended the proposal sUghtly, inasmuch as they agreed
that the payments should not be capitalised. The elections to
the board, which took place that day, resulted in Mr Alexander
Boa being substituted for Mr Meldrum in the chair ; but at the
close of the meeting, the delegates paid a sincere tribute to
Mr Meldrum. In acknowledging the eompHments paid to him,
Mr Meldrum confessed to having received many kindnesses at
the hands of the delegates. He admitted that they might have
had a better chairman, but he claimed that they could not have
had one more earnest or more sincere in promoting the Society's
welfare. He had been on the board from the commencement
of the Society, and he had been chairman for four years. During
the whole of the time he had been on the board he had attended
every meeting held except one. Mr Meldrum is stiU. proud of
the record he then made and of the work he then did ; and
prouder still that the great organisation weathered the storm
which then seemed Ukely to destroy it. The delegates were
satisfied with that day's meeting. The ultimate sale of the
assets of the Ironworks Company brought very httle return to
the Wholesale, but the method proposed by Penicuik, with the
modification agreed to at that meeting, recouped the Wholesale
with very little inconvenience to the shareholders. The propor-
tion of profits allocated to the redemption fund amounted to
98 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
£1,792, 7s. 4d. in 1875. The following years brought, respectively,
£1,906, 7s. 3d., £2,455, IS. 7d., £2,502, 9s., and £i,557. IQS- 9^-.
the last sum being the amount deducted for 1879, when the
account was finally closed.
In the history of a federation, which closes its jubilee year
with five and a half millions of capital and reserve funds
exceeding a million, it may seem to throw our picture out of
perspective to devote so much of our space to the loss of
£10,000 ; but the Wholesale Society had not a reserve fund of
a miUion then, and Uttle would have sent it the way of the
Ironworks Company. The loyalty of the members, the careful
consideration given to the matter by the humblest workers
connected with the Co-operative movement, and, more than
anything else, the conviction of the masses of the Co-operators
that the Wholesale Society would be, as it had been, a boon to
the workers, led to the> devotion and energy with which all
worked together to forge'ahead in spite of the difficulties. It
is the only serious crisis with which the- Wholesale has been
faced in its whole history ; and it was, perhaps,- no great mis-
fortune, for it taught directors and shareholders a lesson which
they have never forgotten. Years have come and gone, but
every meeting of the shareholders is attended by delegates who
have been at preceding meetings, and who will be at subsequent
meetings. The personnel changes, but the traditions of the
Wholesale meetings remain unchanged in their essential, and
there is no tradition more jealously preserved than that which
gives every delegate the title to question any item in the minutes
of the board meetings or in the balance-sheet. It is a tradition
which took its birth in the democratic conception of the earUest
Co-operative societies, but whatever other traditions may have
been lost, the recollection of the Ironworks Company will
preserve that tradition for all time.
The experience of the S.C.W.S., after the difficulty had been
solved by the shareholders at that memorable meeting, was
tryiiig- Faith in Co-operation had been shaken in some who
had not actually become members of societies. In business
circles the loss sustained by the Society had the effect of cooling
down the fervour of commercial travellers who had formerly
been most pressing for orders. People with whom the Wholesale
had done business from its commencement refused orders. The
SERIOUS STORMS SAFELY WEATHERED 99
whole position was explained to them, but they were unable,
for their own plausible reasons, to supply the goods the
Wholesale wanted. Mr James Marshall, who had been
appointed manager in succession to Mr Borrowman ; Mr
Ebenezer Ross, who became grocery buyer in consequence of
the change ; and even Mr Macintosh, who had been appointed
head bookkeeper in 1875, knew what the difficulties were. It
amazed business men in Glasgow and elsewhere to find that a
society of working-men could survive under a loss of £10,000.
When matters improved, and it was seen that the stability of
the Wholesale Society was no longer in question, the travellers
discovered the address of the warehouse once more. Mr Ross
had no need of them then, and has had no need of them since ;
but we are glad to be able to put it on record, as evidence that
the sense of human gratitude does not die under Co-operative
influence, that firms which did not fear to do business with the
Wholesale Society in those days of trouble are still doing
business with it, and proud of their connection.
VII.
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE AND
AID PROGRESS.
CHANGES AMONG ELECTED OFFICIALS — HOW THE DIRECTORS WERE
APPOINTED AND HOW REMUNERATED — BUSINESS GROWS AT PAISLEY
ROAD — SUCCESSFUL AGITATION BY SOCIETIES IN THE EAST-
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEITH BRANCH — A VENTURE JUSTIFIED BY
SUCCESS — SOME WELL-KNOWN LEADERS TAKE THE FIELD- — AYRSHIRE
AND RENFREWSHIRE SECURE A BRANCH AT KILMARNOCK — MINOR
TROUBLES CAUSE SOME LITTLE VEXATION — THE CITY OF GLASGOW
BANK CRASH AND THE DEPRESSION WHICH FOLLOWED — CO-OPERATION
BETWEEN THE TWO WHOLESALE SOCIETIES — THE INSURANCE FUNDS
INAUGURATED — ACTIVITY IN THE NORTH — THE DUNDEE BRANCH
AND JOHN BARROWMAN's EXILE — ENTER MAXWELL.
Except for the temporary cooling down of enthusiasm due
to the unhappy circumstances described in the last chapter, the
Wholesale Society was making satisfactory progress. John
M'Innes proved to be an excellent Press representative, and
his quarterly criticisms of the societies referred to in the
Wholesale balance-sheet had a very useful effect. Societies
that were deficient in loyalty, or behind the figure that their
quarterly purchases from the Wholesale ought to reach, were
made aware of it not by any pointed reference to themselves,
but through the tributes John M'Innes paid to those who
excelled in their duty. His methods had the effect of stimulating
a healthy spirit of emulation, and societies that were behind
the mark one quarter were usually found making an effort to
take their proper place the following quarter. Those old
balance-sheets show results that may surprise many to-day.
At one time the Crosshouse Society topped the list for purchases
from the Wholesale ; Bo'ness held the premier place several
times in succession ; Penicuik, Kilmarnock, Barrhead,
Tillicoultry, Dumbarton, and Bathgate were frequently singled
out for distinction for their excellent buying. When the Iron-
works trouble began the quarterly report showed that eleven
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 101
societies purchased between them nearly a third of the total
goods sold by the Wholesale, the first of the eleven being Bo'ness
and the eleventh St Cuthbert's ; and it is interesting to observe
that one of the eleven societies was that of Stockton-on-Tees,
which probably found Glasgow as convenient for a supply
depot as Manchester. In 1875 the sales were only 4-9 per cent,
above those of the preceding year ; but the disturbance of the
peace of the Co-operators throughout the country, as we have
seen, accounted for that comparatively small increase. In the
latter part of the year, however, the wonted rate of progress
began to show itself, and the directors and the officials began
to sleep more contentedly at night.
What, it may be asked, was the position of the directors of
this Society at that time ? The chairman and the secretary
were nominated and elected personally, as also were the auditors,
but the ordinary directors were not so elected. Societies were
elected to appoint a representative each on the board. It was
a method that enabled the shareholders to recognise the help
that particular societies gave to the Wholesale by their large
trade, and it accounts, to some extent, for a traditional connec-
tion which some societies seemed to have with the Wholesale
directorate. At the same time, it was a method that had
weaknesses, although they could not be called obvious weak-
nesses, for some important federations still adhere to the same
method. From the foregoing chapter readers wiU be able to
conceive of the amount of responsibihty that devolved upon
conscientious directors of a concern doing an annual trade of
very close upon half a miUion pounds. Nevertheless, there were
no fixed salaries for the directors. They were paid for every
meeting they attended, and were paid their railway fare besides —
the railway fare in those days being second class. The pay for
attending the meetings was 10/ and 8/ per day, according to
the distance between the director's home and the meeting-place.
It was not a lavish sum, in view of the responsibiUties attaching
to the office, especially when it is remembered that, till Andrew
Boa was elected chairman, there was only one Glasgow man
on the board — Gabriel Thomson, the treasurer. Little as the
remuneration was, there were some who thought that even that
was too much ; and, before the end of 18,75, it was proposed
that the rates should be reduced to 8/ and 6/. The proposal.
102 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
however, was not adopted. The auditors, upon whom so much
depended also, were rewarded at the rate of 35/ per quarter,
although they had their fee raised to 50/ at the same meeting
at which it was sought to reduce the fees of the directors. There
is ample evidence that, despite these modest fees, the Society
was well managed immediately following the lesson that had
been taught ; and, indeed, throughout the whole career of the
Wholesale, its directors have given to its affairs not merely the
attention for which they were paid — for, measured by the fees
allowed for a good many years, their work should have been
light — ^but they have bestowed upon it the attention due to a
trust placed in their care. The honourable discharge of a duty
voluntarily accepted — ^the guardianship of the property of their
feUow-workers — and enthusiasm for the propagation of a system
and a cause which earned their service, have been the motive
powers that have led Co-operative directors to sacrifice the
social pleasures that would have been open to them if their
lives had been ordered by the standard of an eight hours day.
At 93 Paisley Road the business was being conducted
vigorously. The representatives of the retail societies could
always find a reUable stock of first-class groceries and provisions
for sale. Bakers' grist flour was also supphed, and special efforts
were being made to develop that trade. Arrangements had
been entered into for the importation of the best Continental
produce — ^butter, cheese, etc. — via Leith. The Society was still
agent for several Co-operative manufacturing societies, notably
those of Paisley, Eccles, Hebden Bridge, and Auchtermuchty,
as well as the Glasgow Cooperage Society. Yams, cottons, and
general drapery goods were also being pushed by Mr Gardiner
in the drapery department. The balance-sheets took all the
sales together, and no distinction was made between the depart-
ments for a time ; but, in 1875, the drapery was separated from
the grocery department. The goods were aU sold to societies,
large and small, at the same terms : " One price only is charged
to aU societies, the smallest purchaser being charged at the same
rate as the largest," was how an old advertisement of the period
read. Only registered Co-operative societies were supphed with
goods, the non-shareholders, as now, receiving half the rate of
dividend paid to the shareholders.
The trade seemed to develop extensively as well as inten-
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 103
sively, and the number of shareholders was growing. It was
believed that the Wholesale Society could do something to make
it extend still further. The societies in the East of Scotland
brought the subject into prominence several times, and they
concluded that the wisest step that could be taken would be to
establish a branch depot at Leith. The East of Scotland
Co-operative Conference committee made extensive inquiries
into the trade of the societies in that area, in order to ascertain
what the prospects of a branch there would be. At a conference
held at Portobello in 187^, Mr James Lochhead, who passed
away only very recently, reported that repUes to his inquiries
indicated that fourteen societies in the East and North-East
were purchasing from the Wholesale at the rate of ^62,000 per
annum ; and these societies had promised that this could be
increased to £75,000. The unanimous feehng expressed at the
conference was that something should be done in order to reUeve
the societies in that district from the necessity of either paying
heavy charges for carriage on goods sent from Glasgow or of
dividing their purchases with local merchants. It was unani-
mously recommended that the. societies interested should be
represented at the following meeting of the Wholesale, in order,
if possible, to get their views adopted.
A week later Ihe matter was raised at a meeting pf the Whole-
sale Society., Mr Poole, who submitted the formal motion, pointed
to the advantages that a development of this kind would bring
to the S.C.W.S. He pointed to the big increase in the. Society's
trade in Continental produce which arrived at Leith, and he
argued that the opening of a depot there for the storage of, such
produce, and to which buyers from retail societies could go for
suppUes, would mean increased trade and increased membership.
All the oratorical force of the East of Scotland was employed
to support the proposal, but the mass of delegates concluded
that the representatives of the East had not provided suf&cient
data. It was therefore agreed to appoint a small specicd com-
mittee to collect and furnish statistics, which might be submitted
at the next quarter's meeting. Before that meeting the report
of the special conunittee was circulated, but the East of Scotland
Conference commented upon the character of the report most
unfavourably. It was complained that "all that had been
attempted by the committee was to submit three queries to tke
104 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
societies interested," and the uncharitable view was expressed
that these queries " were so framed as to be almost uninteUigible."
At the shareholders' meeting in January 1876 the delegates again
took the view they had taken at the previous meeting. They
had still too httle data to go upon, only fifteen societies having
responded from among sixty-five from whom inquiries were
made. An interesting contribution to the discussion was made
by Mr W. F. Stewart, then of Penicuik, who naturally supported
the proposal to open a branch. His speech was characteristi-
cally vigorous, and his explanation of the dearth of repUes was
that " it did not necessarily prove a lack of interest in reference
to the matter : it might possibly be that a good number of these
documents had fallen into the hands of hostile managers, lazy
secretaries, or simple-minded committees, some of whom might
have Ut their pipes with thein, not knowing for what object they
had been sent." From this quotation those who know him now
will agree that Mr Stewart's frankness has not diminished with
the passing years. All the oratory, however, did not convince
the delegates at that meeting, and it was resolved to defer the
whole proposal for twelve months. Eventually, the Leith
branch was started in 1877, and Mr Stewart, whose oratory, as
we have seen, had emphasised the demand for the branch, was
appointed manager. The results of the trading of the branch
were an ample vindication of the demands made by the East of
Scotland societies. The first estimate made by the East ot
Scotland Conference was supplemented, it will be remembered,
by a promise that the trade in the district would be increased
from £62,000 to £75,000. When the accounts for the first
year were closed, the recorded sales were £76,767, lis. id. The
branch had been estabhshed in premises in Constitution Street ;
but less than a year's experience proved the premises to be
hopelessly inadequate. In 1879 ground was purchased upon
which permanent buildings were erected, and the Leith branch
has proved to be one of the best propagandist agencies of
Co-operation in the East" of Scotland. The East of Scotland
Conference Association kept the Leith Branch Committee in
existence for some time after the branch was opened ; and at
the quarterly conferences this Committee submitted a regular
report of their efforts to develop the trade of the branch by
inducing societies to trade there, and by inducing societies to
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 105
join the Wholesale. It was an excellent means of stimulating
interest in the Wholesale ; and, even yet, there is no Co-operative
Conference Committee in Scotland which gives the Wholesale so
much attention in its annual report as the East of Scotland
Conference Committee does.
While the agitation which led to the estabUshment of this
branch was being set afoot, other changes were in process.
Andrew Boa, who had only been elected to the presidency of
the society at the beginning of 1875, had to rehnquish his post
in September of the same year. His health failed, and he had
to leave Scotland and take up his residence in Australia. Mr
Boa was probably one of the most enthusiastic reformers of his
time. Not only was he extremely keen in deyeloping Co-
operation — and we may say, incidentally, that he did his best
to promote the success of the ill-fated Ironworks and other more
fortunate ventures — ^but he was an ardent trade unionist, and
one whose oratory was at the call of advanced working-class
organisations in his time. Prior to his departure from Scotland
he was entertained at dinner in Weir's Restaurant, Argyle
Street, where he was presented with a dressing-case and a purse
of sovereigns. The chief spokesman on that occasion was Mr
M'CuUoch, a well-known Kilmarnock Co-operator ; addresses
being also dehvered by James Marshall (the manager), John
Barrowman, James Murphy, and others. Mr Boa died in
Australia. It may be added that a young associate of his in
his earUer days was a lad who was also to make his name known
in the Co-operative world — William Maxwell. Mr Boa was
succeeded in the chair by Mr John Allan, who had been, in
turn, secretary and cashier for the society. It was a year of
important changes, for Mr Gabriel Thomson resigned the
treasurership which he had held from the inauguration of the
society, and was succeeded in office by Mr John Barrowman,
of Rutherglen. Mr Barrowman's term of office as treasurer
was of comparatively short duration, for in 1877 the office was
abolished altogether, the members of the society having come
to the conclusion that with a competent and responsible cashier
there was no need to perpetuate the treasurership.
The Ayrshire Co-operators, stimulated by the success of the
campaign that had been waged for the establishment of a
branch of the S.C.W.S. at Leith, joined with the Co-operators
106 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of Renfrewshire in a demand for the establishment of a centre
at KUmamock or Ayr. Throughout 1877 the matter was
discussed at frequent conferences. The case for the establish-
ment of the Leith branch was based on the large trade that
was being done in Continental produce ; and the basis of the
case put forward on behalf of the establishment of the
Kilmarnock branch was almost similar. The two counties were
noted for their agricultural produce, which was rich in quality
and in quantity, and Ayrshire especially for its butter and
cheese. ' Co-operative societies in the district, paradoxical as
it may seem, were engaging in competition among themselves
for the supplies available. Their representatives were purchasing
from the same farmers in the same markets ; and the S.C.W.S. was
purchasing as well as they. The position was stupid, keeping
in view the aim of the Co-operators who desired to embark as soon
as practicable on schemes of production. Co-operative buyers
were bidding against one another, and thus needlessly affecting
the prices and depriving their members of the full economies
that Co-operation ought to bring. Besides, the trade of the
Wholesale Society in the produce of the Ayrshire agricultural
areas was a mere trifle compared with what it should be. The
sales of the S.C.W.S. in those goods were only £1,600 for a
quarter ; and Mr Inglis, of Paisley, told the Wholesale meeting
that his own society could consume more than half that amount
itself. Indeed, the small trade done by the Wholesale in a
class of goods that should have been easily disposable focussed
the attention of the whole Movement upon the position — the
Co-operators of the district saw to that being done.
After frequent discussions it seemed apparent that the only
way out would be to establish a collecting centre there so that
a buyer, or buyers, representing the Wholesale could go to
the farmers and arrange purchases at the best terms because
of the collective orders they would be able to place. It meant
a considerable item of expense ; and some of those connected
with the management of the Wholesale were not over-sanguine
about the proposal because it represented a new departure.
That latter truth was what commended the idea chiefly to the
Ayrshire and Renfrewshire Co-operators ; and when the question
was brought forward eventually at the last quarterly meeting
in 1877, they had taken such practical steps to "educate"
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 107
delegates from other districts that the proposal was carried.
Twenty societies in the district gave an undertaking to make
their entire purchases through the Wholesale in the event of
this practicable step being taken. Mr IngUs submitted the
formal motion — " That the Wholesale Society open a place of
business in Kilmarnock or Ayr as the committee may think fit,
and that they appoint a buyer to represent them there." One
of the doughtiest champions of Co-operation in Scotland in later
years, Mr Henry Murphy, of Lanark, entered the arena that
day as a supporter of the demand. James Borrowman, no
longer the manager but a delegate, and a frequent critic of the
board's operations, also supported the proposal. There was an
amendment to the effiect that the proposal be referred back for
further consideration ; but Mr Inglis carried his proposal by
78 votes against 34. At the January meeting in 1878 the minutes
of the board meetings contained various references to the new
depot. Mr James Black, of Beith Society, had been appointed
to act as buyer " of the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire produce
for the society," and premises had been leased at a yearly rental
of £40. Three months later, the chairman, Mr John Allan — who,
by the way, had been opposed by Mr Henry Murphy at the
January meeting, and had been re-elected by 138 votes against
48 — was able to announce that the depot had been established
in accordance with the instructions of the shareholders. He
mentioned also that a curing department had been added to
,it, and that the directors expected to be soon able to smoke
their own hams. The Wholesale staff for a time carried on
operations to a very hmited extent, caution having to be
exercised in feeUng their way amongst the farmers, and making
themselves acquainted with the various markets. Mr James
Black soon became a perfect adept in this direction, and the
venture attained considerable success, the trade extending year
by year until the buyers at Kilmarnock found it necessary to
conduct their search for supplies further afield than Ayrshire,
and explore the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and
Wigtown, purchasing cheese, butter, oats and oatmeal, potatoes,
pigs, and cattle, in large quantities. Various extensions have
taken place since, but the depot was an excellent centre from
which to organise trade with the retail societies in the South-
west of Scotland. So extensively was this trade developed that.
108 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
apart from the purchases made by these societies at the Central
Warehouse, goods to the amount of close on £400,000 were sold
from the Kilmarnock branch during 1918.
In the meantime, several 'minor troubles caused some little
criticism and discussions at the Wholesale meetings and at the
meetings of societies federated with the Wholesale. The Oak
Mill Company, which has already been mentioned, had been
experiencing the difficulties that usually arise from attempting
schemes more ambitious than the capital available warrants,
. The company had been fairly well supported by the Co-operative
societies, both by trade and by investments ; but the continual
shortage of capital made the company's struggle very arduous.
Of course, it might have attempted less ; but it attempted too
much in the circumstances. The societies in the neighbourhood
of Tillicoultry, where the company had its mill, were all
interested in its progress, and efforts were made to secure
financial help from, the Wholesede Society. Mr Kyle, of Alva,
pressed for a loan of £1,000 to be voted at one of the quarterly
meetings ; but the loss involved in the collapse of the Iron-
works had not been fully made good at that time, and the
lesson was too fresh in the minds of the delegates, so the loan
was not granted. The company never paid any profit, and
when it finally went down in 1880 the Wholesale lost a little
in a bad trade debt and lost a little in investments, too, the
total involved being less than £200. There were several other
losses of a similar character. The Glasgow Cooperage Company,
the Lurgan Damask Society, and the Hawick Hosiery Company
were productive ventures which failed because they were not
properly constituted, or were not sufficiently provided with
capital, or because they were conducted by men who were
perhaps not so gifted as the generality of Co-operators ; but
they all involved the Wholesale in slight losses. About the
same period some bad debts were also written off the books of
the Wholesale, owing to the failure of several retail societies ;
but their effects upon the Wholesale Society were almost
negligible except that they led to increased vigilance on the
part of the already alert officials. The year 1878 brought many
of the working people of the West of Scotland something more
serious than these triffing bad debts to think of. The City of
Glasgow Bank collapsed with a loss of over six millions sterling.
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 109
and the crash brought down many business estabUshments
besides the bank itself. Scarcely a day passed for some time
that did not bring failures caused through the bank disaster,
and very serious distress was caused. Relief funds were opened
everywhere ; but in a loss that was probably the greatest
recorded till then in Scotland, the subscriptions were only like
a drop in a bucket. It is evident from the records of the
Wholesale that some of the retail Co-operative societies were
affected by the disaster as they were affected by every industrial
or financial disturbance. The effect on the retail societies was
reflected in the trade of the S.C.W.S., for the total trade for
1878, while it reached the creditable figure of £600,590, repre-
sented an increase of only i-g per cent, on the trade of 1877.
Towards the end of 1878 John Allan indicated that he did
not intend to seek re-election to the chair. His health had
left a good deal to be desired, and it has to be remembered
that he had lived through some very strenuous times in the
Wholesale, aU things considered. For the prospective vacancy
there was a plethora of candidates, among them being Mr John
Barrowman, who had formerly been treasurer, and, once more,
Mr Henry Murphy. The choice of the delegates at the election
meeting fell upon Mr Barrowman, who during his short tenure
of the office proved himself an adept at handling the business.
He was an excellent choice. Few men have passed over the
S.C.W.S. stage who have given a better account of themselves
or have played their parts to greater satisfaction than John
Barrowman. He made his entry upon official life when the
days were darkest and the Ironworks trouble was disturbing
the minds of the people. Mr Thomson was then giving up the
treasurership, and it seemed essential that his successor should
be a man who would commend himself to the working people
of Scotland. John Barrowman was well known in trade union
circles as well as in Co-operative circles. He filled a big place
in the municipal Ufe of Rutherglen, and he was one of the first
working men to be elected to the Town Council of the old burgh.
Two earnest men, after consultation with some of their
colleagues who recognised the fateful choice that the Wholesale
had to make, went to Rutherglen on a Sunday evening to beg
John to consent to be nominated for the treasurership. It was
not an easy matter to convince him, because the post was no
110 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
sinecure then ; but the two missionaries of progress — John
Allan and John M'Innes — eventually won him over, and he
agreed to his nomination. The shareholders agreed to have
him. It was a happy choice, and John held oii&ce till it was
abolished as already mentioned. His election to the chair
was an equally happy choice. Considerable developments were
taking place. The joint buying arrangements entered into
between the Scottish Wholesale Society and the sister federation
in the South had been extending. It had been arranged that
the S.C.W.S. should buy sugar for the two Wholesales. An
estabUshment had been opened at Cork for the purchase of
butter for the two federations ; and there the buyers found
themselves up against difficulties because they had to take
goods they did not want in order to get goods they did want,
and it was not always easy for the Co-operative federation to
dispose of the goods unsuitable for its own customers. The
co-operation between the two Wholesale Societies was a
considerable advantage to both, because the English Society had
the advantage of the best Scottish markets through the S.C.W.S.
buyers at Glasgow, Leith, Kilmarnock, and Greenock, who got
the best prompt cash terms; and the S.C.W.S. had the
advantage of the services of the English Society's buyers —
seven in Ireland, two in New York, three in Manchester, one
in London, and one in Liverpool.
The drapery department was flourishing as well as was
expected. In 1877 it published a price list for the first time, and
it is rather interesting to observe that sufficient advertising was
secured for its pages to cover the cost of printing. While the
people then had scarcely recovered from the effects of the
Franco-Prussian War — ^which had sent the 4-lb. loaf up to gd.
and oatmeal to 3s. per stone — the people of 1877 were more
fortunate than those who have had to pay the price for the
great war which marks -the close of the Wholesale Society's
first half-century, for this first drapery price list shows that
spindles of Alloa yarn sold in the present war-time for 82/
were sold in 1877 for 34/. The department was developing in
other directions : for as in the case of sugar and of other goods
sold in the grocery and provision departments, so in the drapery
departments there were arrangements made thus early for
Co-operation between the two Wholesale Societies, arrangements
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 111
that have extended widely since. Another departure which
had some considerable influence upon the stability of the
Wholesale Society was the inauguration of an insurance fund
in 1879. This was to cover marine risks on goods carried for
the Wholesale. Other insurance funds have been inaugurated
since to excellent purpose. The departments concerned are
charged the current rates, and these sums are credited to the
funds, by which means the Wholesale has accumulated since
1879 insurance funds amounting to over £400,000.
There were some interesting personaUties among the delegates
at the Wholesale meetings at the period of which we are now
writing. Henry Murphy did not stand 'alone. John Stevenson,
of Kilmarnock, vigorous till his last weeks in the Wholesale
board, was at that time a Titan in debate. John M'Nair and
William Barclay, of Kinning Park ; John Slater, of the Scottish
Section of the Co-operative Union : those who knew them in
later years will be able to appreciate the merits of discussions,
among these men on a proposal to set aside £200 a year for
the payment of a Co-operative lecturer and his expenses with
the object of spreading Co-operation pure and simple, and with
the object of stimulating interest in the S.C.W.S. among
societies that had not till then been thoroughly aroused as to-
the place that such a federation must take in developing
Co-operative progress. There was need of propaganda in many
districts. The North of Scotland was, according to the view
of one who had afterwards to judge by hard experience, " a
Co-operative desert." Some of the earliest societies in Scotland
had their roots in the North, and some of those then in
existence had done excellent work to spread the Co-operative
idea ; nevertheless, their isolation from the other societies,
partly because of the wide area over which they were scattered,
partly because while expecting the members to show a
Co-operative spirit the societies themselves were lacking in a.
true conception of the value of associative effort, made progress
in the North very slow. No one knew the difficulty of moving
these societies better than John Barrowman, the president of
the Wholesale. Two decisions arrived at effected a change for
the better. The Wholesale decided to open a branch at Dundee,
which would give the Co-operators of the North opportunities,
that were already enjoyed by the Co-operators of the West
112 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and of the East ; and it was thought that the economic
advantages this would give the Northern societies would react
upon the members and lead to the increase of the ranks of
Co-operators in that untapped district. It was also decided to
appoint the propagandist, whose duty it would be to address
meetings of potential members where it was possible to form
societies, to interview the committees of societies with a view
to arousing their interest in the Wholesale, and to do what he
possibly could to galvanise the North into full Co-operative life.
John Barrowman had lived at the hub of Co-operative activity,
where the Co-operative atmosphere was strong and bracing ;
but he saw the world of the North to be won for Co-operation
and he resigned the presidency of the Society to apply for the
post of propagandist. The directors appointed him in 1881.
In July of that year the Dundee branch was opened in Trades
Lane, and Mr Barrowman set out to bring in those for whom
the economic banquet had been prepared. He found the
invited guests as unresponsive as those called to another banquet,
and he went out into the highways and byways of the North
to bring them in. In March 1883 he was appointed manager
of the branch at Dundee on a temporary charter which gave
him a three months' trial. At the end of that period he was
confirmed in the post, which he retained till 1912. How he
succeeded may be judged from the fact that he lived to see
the annual trade of the branch rise from £34,679 to £202,820.
We cannot praise Mr Barrowman's work too highly. Frequently
he told in later years of the difficulties he encountered.
Societies that had but the crudest ideas of what Co-operation
stood for were chilly in their reception of the emissary of the
Wholesale. He cycled into remote regions where there were
no trains and when motor cars were not heard of. He called
upon committees and managers who were quite content to go
on in their own way regardless of the fact that they were playing
at Co-operation in their local stores, while they were retarding
its progress in their own districts as well as elsewhere by
stemming the progress of Co-operation in the field of wholesale
trading and of production that was to follow. The early years
he spent in Dundee and the North were to John Barrowman
years of exUe, and we might almost say martyrdom.
The general progress of the Society continued so satisfactory
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S.C.W.S. FINANCE COMMITTEE— 1918
(1) Thos. B. Stirling.
(3) Wm. Archbold, d.P.
(2) John F^earson, J. P.
(4) Alexr. B. Weir.
DISTRIBUTIVE BRANCHES DENOTE PROGRESS 113
that congestion began to show itself in various directions.
Co-operators were discussing many schemes for the extension
of trading and for the multiphcation of their enterprises. The
membership of the Society began to rise more rapidly ; the
years 1879 '"■^^ ^880 saw a big augmentation of the capital
deposited with the Society as well as of the shares taken out
by societies. The amount added to the capital in those two
years exceeded £17,000 ; but in 1881 alone more than £25,000
was added. The trade, too, was developing very satisfactorily,
and was rapidly approaching a million per annum. Little
wonder that there were expansions showing themselves in
many directions, for the familiar circle was being traversed :
People had joined together in a sort of forlorn hope to help
themselves by Co-operation ; their Co-operative methods were
proving economical ; others saw this and joined up in the
movement ; their added purchasing power increased the
economic value of the stores and attracted others, and so the
circle of Co-operators grew. The Wholesale purchased ground
for extensions of their business premises, and in 1880 secured
the first instalment of the Clarence Street ground in Glasgow.
The Paisley Road premises had to be extended in July of the
same year, the new instalment being stiU distinguishable as
the middle portion of the island block known as the " gusset."
In May 1881 ground was secured for a proper warehouse building
in Kilmarnock, which has since then been extended several
times.
Another important event occurred with a reference to which
we may suitably close this chapter. A successor had to be
found for John Barrowman in the presidency of the Society.
Mr Barrowman's resignation took effect between two quarterly
meetings of the shareholders, and it devolved upon the directors
to elect an interim chairman. Their choice fell upon the
representative of St Cuthbert's Association on the board whose
name was WiUiam Maxwell.
VIII.
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW SUCCESS
IN DISTRIBUTION.
PREPARING THE FIELD FOR PRODUCTIVE EFFORTS — THE WHOLESALE'S
FIRST EXPERIMENTS — HOW THE SHIRT FACTORY CAME INTO EXIST-
ENCE — MR JAMES LBGGAT's INSPIRATION — REVOLUTIONISING A
SWEATED TRADE— ORGANISING CAPITAL — GLASGOW FACTORIES
ESTABLISHED — A MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES — S.C.W.S. PLANTS
ITS FLAG IN IRELAND— MILLINERY SHOWS INAUGURATED — A BIG
VENTURE PLANNED — THE SHIELDHALL SCHEME — " WHY WE SHOULD
BE IN PARLIAMENT " — SUCCESS OF IMPORTANT FACTORIES — " QUEEN
victoria's TRIBUTE TO CO-OPERATION."
The progress recorded in preceding chapters showed that the
Wholesale Society had very largely overcome the initial
difficulties of distribution. " Repeatedly the question was being
discussed in Co-operative circles : ' When are we going to begin
Co-operative production ? '" It was assumed by the Wholesale
from the beginning that its chief success as an ameliorative
agency would depend upon its being able to bring the production
of necessary articles under Co-operative control. Robert Owen
and Holyoake, and many others less well known, had spoken
rather contemptuously of a conception of Co-operation which
could not see beyond shopkeeping. Several ventures that were
made by manufacturing societies might have been calculated
to deter that generation of Co-operators from venturing their
money in productive enterprises. There were, however, good
reasons — or, perhaps we had better say bad reasons — why those
earlier productive ventures failed. We have already seen what
some of those reasons were. If we reckon from the year 1878
it wiU be safe to say that, in one sense, the Wholesale directors
had already made some attempt to get one stage nearer the
source of supply than an ordinary wholesale house. At several
meetings in that year the directors were questioned with reference
to experiments they were making in the textile trade. It could
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 115
scarcely be called a venture in Co-operative production, although
it was an approach to that. They had been purchasing warp
and weft, and giving the material out for manufacture. Appar-
ently, some little saving was effected by this method, and the
Wholesale drapery department was by this means getting cloth
of a character that it actually required. At one of the first
meetings at which the question was raised, Mr Alexander
Hutchison, of Paisley, with characteristic municipal patriotism
and Co-operative sympathy, wanted to know why this work was
not given to the Paisley Co-operative Manufacturing Society
(the only one of the early productive societies that had survived),
and he pointed out that there was competition between the
Manufacturing Society and the Wholesale. Readers who are
accustomed to attending meetings of these two federations will,
no doubt, recollect occasions, not so remote as 1878, when
similar questions were raised. At that time, however, the
S.C.W.S. had a fairly good answer to give, for the chairman,
Mr Allan, pointed out that, if the advice of Mr Hutchison were
taken, the Manufacturing Society would simply do what the
Wholesale itself was doing — viz., send the material to job-
weavers to do at their own looms. While the Manufacturing
Society has now an extensive factory at CoUnslee, to begin with
the manufacturing was done in the method just described, and
the members of the society brought their webs to the house of
the secretary, which served as a committee-room and a warehouse.
In 1878 the society had a warehouse in Causeyside Street.
The Co-operative Congress of 1876 had been held at Glasgow,
and the attitude of Co-operation to Labour and of Labour to
Co-operation was discussed at the Congress, in a paper by
Professor Hodgson, of the University of Edinburgh. That had
turned the attention of Co-operators to the subject of Co-operative
employment, and productive enterprises seemed to be the chief
outlet for developments which would increase the number of
people Co-operatively employed. Besides, that was the first
Co-operative Congress that had been held in Scotland, and it
naturally aroused a good deal of enthusiasm among Co-operators,
and stimulated interest in the subject among many who were
not then Co-operators. Even the Glasgow Herald published a
leading article, which was rather favourable to Co-operative
aspirations. It is worthy of note that the Herald declared at the
116 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
time that " The enthusiasm of the supporters of the system of
Co-operation is so great that it appears sufficient in itself to
carry the cause onwards to success and universal acceptance.
But the qualities which will ensure such success are rather patience,
self-control, and, experience, than enthusiasm and, even energy."
The success of the movement in Scotland from that time must have
been inevitable, for those who were at the helm of the Co-opera-
tive ship had all these virtues combined^ — the self-control and the
patience, as well as the enthusiasm. The patience was never
lacking, but the enthusiasm received another fillip in Scotland
because of the very obvious effects of the work of the Wholesale
Society. We have already seen that, in 1867, there were in
Scotland 134 Co-operative societies, with a combined membership
of 26,254, and with sales amounting to a little over £800,000
per annum. When the first quarterly report was issued by the
S.C.W.S. directors, there were only 28 societies that had become
members. Ten years later the official statistics showed that
there were no fewer than 314 societies in existence in Scotland,
with 86,382 members on their rolls, and doing a trade of
£2,831,932 in one year. Of these societies, 133 had become
members of the S.C.W.S. Now, that marked a great stride
forward. Co-operation was being more widely discussed, and
it was being more seriously discussed. Co-operators have
always contended that people remain outside the movement
either because they are interested traders or because they have
never thought the subject out ; and Co-operative societies,
therefore, have always deemed it part of their duty to set aside
definite sums for propaganda purposes. The interest taken in
the movement by the public, the frequent discussion of the prin-
ciples of the movement, and the endeavours of the enthusiasts,
must have contributed to this great increase in the strength of
the movement in those ten years ; but the working-people were
accustomed to view the whole case from a purely materialist
point of view till they became Co-operators. The materialist
arguments in favour of Co-operation were so strengthened by
the great economic advantages that the societies were able to
give their members because the Wholesale Society conserved for
them the wholesale profits, that a very considerable part of that
tremendous increase must be put to the credit of the Wholesale
Society. In that sense, the Wholesale Society had already, in
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 117
less than ten years, more than justified its existence, and rewarded
the pioneers for their own self-sacrifice during the years of
preliminary effort and the first years of the Wholesale's
experiments.
There were other discussions with regard to production. A
flour miU was wanted, and Mr Borrowman's suggestion at some
of the preliminary meetings with regard to sugar refinery had
not been lost sight of. The stimulus given to the desire for
productive ventures was like seed falling upon good ground.
The directors were beginning to contemplate actual ventures
in whatever direction would seem most safe. Some were eager
to do something, no matter what, in the productive field ;
others, however, displayed their enthusiasm for the welfare
of the Society by applying the brake to their more eager
colleagues. Without doubt the increase in capital, referred to
at the close of the preceding chapter, was chiefly due to a desire
to provide money to enable the beginning to be made. The
beginning came in a very simple form. In the early part of the
Jubilee year the writer had the privilege of being present at a
somewhat unique gathering of employees of the S.C.W.S. The
gathering was held to do honour to a venerable buyer in the
drapery department, who had that day celebrated his ninetieth
birthday. He was an authority on Co-operative production.
He had been chairman of the Paisley Manufacturing Society in
1865, and had also been manager of the Society for some time.
He entered the service of the S.C.W.S. in 1874, when the staff of
the department comprised Mr David Gardiner, Mr George
Davidson, and two young women. The old veteran * was Mr
James Leggat, who was hale and hearty despite the snows of
ninety winters on his head. Mr Gardiner, the head of the
drapery business of the Wholesale, and Mr Robert Macintosh,
the Society's accountant, testified on that evening to the credit
that was due to Mr Leggat as the originator of S.C.W.S. produc-
tions. The story, as told at this gathering, and confirmed by
the manager of the department, was briefly this :
The drapery department of the Society had been incon-
venienced and disappointed frequently by people who used to
make shirts to its orders. It is almost incredible that Mr David
Gardiner was ruffled, yet we have had it on the authority of
* The worthy old man has since passed away.
118 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Mr Macintosh that the trouble over the shirts in those days
actually produced a result so surprising. To his two assistants
he frequently confided his troubles. Mr James Leggat, on
one historic day when the shirt trouble was at its height, asked
Mr Gardiner : " Could we not make these shirts ourselves ? "
The manager replied : " Yes, I think we will have to do that."
It was thus that the Wholesale Society became manufacturers
of shirts in January 1881.* It was not an easy task to obtain
the unanimous consent of the directors immediately ; but
Mr Maxwell was a vigorous advocate of Co-operative production.
He had been won into the Co-operative movement by enthusiasm
for the new world of hope which Co-operative prospects held
out to the working people. He had been an ardent trade
unionist, full of democratic sentiments. In 1873 he moved
from Glasgow to Edinburgh after a. rather romantic career, and
it was in the Scottish capital that he first began to take a part
in Co-operation. He joined St Cuthbert's in 1874. In 1876
he was secretary of what is now the largest Co-operative society
in Scotland, and the society with the largest distributive trade
in Great Britain, apart from the Wholesale Societies. He had
also been secretary of the East of Scotland Conference Associa-
tion, an appointment which brought him into prominence as
a propagandist and orator who had frequent occasions of
expounding Co-operative principles and advocating Co-operative
ideals. St Cuthbert's Association had appointed him to be its
representative on the Wholesale directorate, as we have already
seen. Although a director of the Society, he had been enter-
prising enough to set up in business at his own trade on his
own account — needless to say his trade was not one that
competed with any enterprise that had then come under
Co-operative control. It was not without some pressure that
Mr Maxwell jeopardised prospects on which he counted so much.
At first he refused to be considered a candidate for the chair-
manship ; but friends in the Wholesale board did not regard
his refusal as final. On a journey to Manchester he was
* The venture already referred to — viz., the making up of warp and
weft for the job weavers — was also due to Mr Leggat's inspiration. " If
anyone may lay claim exclusively to being the pioneer in Co-operative
production on the part of the Wholesale, it belongs to Mr Leggat." —
Mr Gardiner at the birthday celebration.
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 119
pressed by fellow-delegates to allow himself to be nominated,
and before the end of his journey he had consented. Having
given his undertaking, Mr Maxwell had resolved that whatever'
driving power he could provide would be used to propel the
movement into the fullest conception of Co-operative duty,
and to attempt to bring about such conditions as would enable
the Wholescile Society to say that nothing that could be done
by Co-operators themselves was being done for them by other
people. It is quite easy to imagine that when the opportunity
arose, Mr Maxwell should have given all his encouragement to
the estabUshment of a productive department, although this
proposition came shortly before he occupied the chair. The
principal doubt that was raised with regard to the wisdom of
the proposed departure was due to the fact that the shirtmaking
industry was then, as it had been for a generation, one of the
notoriously sweated industries. Nearly forty years before that
the industry had gained the notoriety and the exposure which
Hood had given it in the Song of the Shirt, which was published
in Punch — ironically enough in a Christmas number. The
starting of shirtmaking threw a new responsibility upon the
Co-operative movement.
The immediate problem before the Wholesale Society was to
manufacture shirts and sell them to the Co-operative societies
in competition with shirts that these societies could buy from
other manufacturers who were not scrupulous as to the wages
and conditions to which they subjected their workers. The
ultimate appeal, of course, was to the purchaser of the shirt ;
and the man or woman who purchased articles in those days
was not, as a rule, very much concerned about the conditions
under which these shirts were produced. Purchasers who had
low wages themselves were chiefly concerned about saving a
copper or two, or even a halfpenny, on the cost of any article
upon which a saving could be effected. This was the test to
which the S.C.W.S. had to submit, and it came through the
test well. The wages in the shirt factory were a considerable
improvement upon those paid outside, and the hours of work
were fixed at forty-four per week. Readers will remember that
we are writing of 1881, not 1918, and that there were then no
Trade Union Congress demands and there was no threatened
general strike in industrial circles to support a demand for a
120 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
forty-four hours week. Pressed by such demands and such
threats the Government to-day is contemplating the estabhsh-
ment of a forty-four hours week— thirty-seven years after the
Scottish Wholesale Society established it in an industry in
which sixteen or eighteen hours per day were being worked for
a miserable wage, or as Hood put it, an industry in which
women had to
" Work — work — ^work,
While the cock is crowing aloof ;
And work — work — work.
Till the stars shine through the roof."
The hopes of the pioneers of production were justified. The
first week's wages paid in connection with the shirtmaking
amounted to £6, 17s. 6d., and the value of the turnover for the
first nineteen weeks was under £200. It is an extraordinary
contrast that is shown between these figures and the figures
registered for the department up to date, for the value of shirts
produced in the woollen shirt factory now amounts to over
£13,000 per year. So successful did the shirt factory prove
that in the same year a ready-made clothing factory was
established, which, hke the shirt factory, sought to combine
utilitarianism and ideaUsm. The venture proved quite as
successful as the shirt factory, and from the small beginnings
of nearly forty years ago there has grown up a productive trade
in this department amounting to over £37,000 per annum. The
ready-made clothing trade, like shirtmaking, was a sweated
industry, but it may be safely said that, at any time in its
history, the workers in that factory were engaged under con-
ditions which were not excelled in any privately-owned factory.
Developments in the distributive trades were also provoking
discussions as to production. In 1882 the Society purchased
a piece of ground which made the Co-operators the sole
proprietors of the Paisley Road " gusset." The grocery
department, of course, was forging ahead, but the developments
in the drapery trade necessitated a great devolution of
responsibility there. The drapery department, it will be
remembered, had been a comprehensive business which com-
prised all now comprised in the drapery, boots, and furnishing
departments. Even jewelleiy would have been included ; but,
as the late Mr Peter Glasse once told a social gathering, the
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 121
jewellery department required a safe, and as there was no safe
in the drapery department, Mr Macintosh, who in a sense might
be described as " the keeper of the keys," had to take charge
of the jewellery. This responsibility weighed upon him from
1879 to 1884. It may be of interest to mention that in 1883
alone he sold 188 watches (chiefly Genevas and English levers),
besides a number of gold alberts and wedding rings. A certain
amount of luck was supposed to attach to wedding rings bought
at the Wholesale ; and we hope that the expectations of the
purchasers in every case were realised. The original scales on
which Mr Macintosh used to test the weight of gold are still
in the Society's possession. In 1882 it was deemed advisable
to keep a separate record of the sales of boots and shoes, and
of the sales of articles of furniture and the other varied articles
which are more accurately described as furnishings than as
drapery. Classification of this kind enabled people to see at
a glance what prospects there were for productive developments,
and the results were highly satisfactory. One development in
the production of furniture was in 1882 when the upholstery
department was started. It was a modest beginning of what
has become a very serviceable department of the Wholesale.
The result of the separation of the accounts of the various
branches of the drapery department, as it had existed till 1882,
was that in 1884 the furniture department and the boot
department were found to hold out such promise that they were
entirely separated from the drapery business and placed under
distinct control. This development, so far as the furniture
department was concerned, coincided with the inauguration
of a cabinet-making factory. This factory was begun in rather
a smaU way at a time when Co-operators, as a general rule, had
not very lavish tastes in furniture. Mr William Miller, who
took charge of the factory, was not only a tradesman who had
excelled in work which he was appointed to do, but was a man
of extreme artistic taste. To that, very largely, are due the
developments that have taken place in the cabinet factory
which, since its opening, has manufactured goods to the value
of over one million pounds. For nearly six years there had
been discussions at Wholesale meetings about the propriety of
establishing a boot, factory. There were many difficulties in
the way, and it was not until 1883 that the directors were at
122 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
length given permission to proceed. Ground had been secured
in St James Street (now known as Wallace Street), and here
the boot department was set up. The boot factory was opened
on New Year's Day, 1885, when the delegates attending the
Wholesale meeting took part in what was a most interesting
ceremony. The factory and the boot warehouse were combined
under the management of Mr A. L. Scott, who remained with
the Society for a good many years. The sales from the boot
warehouse at this time amounted to £70,000 per year, and the
value of the boots produced at the factory during its first year
in operation amounted to £47,620.
One point that ought to be mentioned is that up to now the
Society was not quite as free to venture into production on an
extensive scale as the directors wished it to be. The erections
of buildings, the purchase of ground upon which to erect them,
the installation of the expensive machinery and plant required
to run a modern factory anticipating a large output, involved
the expenditure of very considerable sums of money. By 1882
the Society had already spent upwards of £14,000 on land alone.
The Wholesale Society had at least shown wisdom from its
earliest years, inasmuch that it bought ground wherever it could
in preference to leasing ground. There was economy in this.
The Wholesale Society itself was destined in later years to
realise that fact ; but the directors had already realised it to a
considerable extent, as had also some others deeply interested
in the movements of its affairs, for at the Glasgow Congress, to
which we have referred, it was pointed out that some societies
were paying 1/8 per yard for ground purchased outright, while
others were pajdng 1/6 per yard every year for ground rented.
The capital invested in the Wholesale Society at the end of
1881 amounted to £136,000, of which only about £25,000
represented share capital and the rest loan capital. According
to the official records of the Wholesale Society the value of
land and buildings and fixed stock represented about fifty per
cent, more than the total of share capital invested. The
directors, in view of this state of affairs, recommended the
shareholders to agree that the value of the shares should be
increased from 10/ each to 15/ each, so that the amount of
fixed capital would be considerably larger. The formal pro-
position was put to the shareholders at a meeting in June 1882,
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 123
but it was not carried then as it did not obtain the requisite
two-thirds majority. Repeatedly the directors impressed upon
the shareholders the need for taking some such step, but it
was not until 1886 that they had their way and the value of
the shares was increased. Of course, for several years prior to
that, the capital had been rolling in very creditably, the
number of shares having increased from the end of 1880 when
it. was 41,584 to 1885 when it was 70,066. In those years the
inclusive amount of capital at the disposal of the Society had
increased from £110,179 to £288,945. These increases, rein-
forced by the increase in the value of the shares, gave the
directors and the shareholders alike confidence to proceed more
rapidly than they might have otherwise felt themselves justified
in going.
There were other considerations which urged them on with
greater confidence. Mr Maxwell had the gratification of being
able to announce at the meeting on New Year's Day, 1883 —
fifteen months after he made his first appearance at a quarterly
meeting as chairman of the Society — that the Society's sales
had exceeded the total of one million per annum. It repre-
sented an increase of £113,942 over the sales for 1881 ; and he
seems to have been perfectly justified in his observation that
day : "I think there is a pleasant prospect for all connected
with this gigantic business." Naturally, the delegates felt
considerably elated over the fact that the sales represented such
an imposing total. Mr Maxwell had been fortunate, too, in
having had, during his first year and a half of office, several
interesting functions to perform. It is true that he had had one
or two trifling losses to record again through the failure of
retail societies. The most serious of these — the failure of the
Dundee West Society — Mr Maxwell bluntly attributed to the
imbecility of the management committee who had allowed
themselves to become " mere tools in the hands of a manager
who ruled supreme." Apart from these, however, he had been
encouraged by the success of those productive factories which
had already been established ; he had had to perform the
opening ceremony at the new Kilmarnock premises, which was
an interesting function from which he and his co-directors no
less than the Ayrshire Co-operators derived considerable
inspiration. He might weU say in one of those earliest speeches
124 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of his ^ " The experimental days of Wholesale Co-operation
are gone, and we are now looked upon as dangerous by many
interested parties." He had witnessed the descent of the two
Wholesale Societies upon the London tea market, upon which
they were to play an important part, which is referred to in
a subsequent chapter.* It was a glowing tribute to the
important position that the Wholesale Society had attained
in Co-operative circles, and to the repute in which its leaders
were held, that Mr Maxwell was called upon to preside on the
second day of the Co-operative Congress held in Edinburgh in
1883. The Congress was presided over on the first day by the
Right Hon. W. E. Baxter, M.P. for Montrose Burghs, who
delivered the inaugural address, which took a very high tone.
Another graceful tribute to the energy and devotion of the
Co-operators of Scotland was that Mr John Allan, the first
secretary of the Wholescde, was asked to preside on the third
day of the Congress. He was not then connected with the
Wholesale in any official capacity, but he was a member of the
Scottish Sectional Board of the Co-operative Union, and between
that body and the Wholesale board there were the most cordial
relations, because each recognised that both were working along
different lines — the one through education and propaganda and
the other through trade and industry — for the promotion of the
welfare of the Co-operative movement in Scotland. Mr
Maxwell had also seen, during the short time he had been in
the chair, a beginning of overseas developments. The English
Wholesale Society had established depots abroad in which the
S.C.W.S. joined. One of the first of these was at Copenhagen
in 1881, Danish butter having become an article of food for which
there was a large demand ; but that is only one of four Danish
centres at which the two Wholesale Societies are now repre-
sented by joint resident buyers. In 1884 the Society was
represented in a joint business mission to the United States, and
Mr Maxwell represented the board. The object of the deputation
in making the journey was simply to carry out the Co-operative
intention of bringing the consumers whom they represented into
the closest relations with the actual producer, or to obviate, as
far as possible, the necessity for deaUng with middlemen. The
result of the visit was regarded as satisfactory. The deputation
* See Chapter XI.
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 125
succeeded in arranging such terms with American millers as,
according to Mr Maxwell's report, " would enable the Wholesale
to supply all the societies in the federation with all classes of
flour." That was called getting closer to the producer in those
days ; and, although the Wholesale has gone far in advance of
that since then, it was a big stride forward in 1884. That,
however, was the first of many business missions embarked upon
by the S.C.W.S. directors ; but that is anticipating another
chapter. Mr Maxwell was, to some extent, the pioneer of the
Wholesale's productive enterprise in Ireland. The trade at the
Danish depots was growing, but there was also growing up a
larger demand for Irish produce. Mr Maxwell was dispatched
to Ireland to accompany the manager, Mr Marshall, on a tour
of exploration in the agricultural centres. Enniskillen was
chosen as a convenient centre for the collection of produce, and
a depot was inaugurated in Brooke Street. Four years later the
Society had purchased ground for the erection of more suitable
premises, in which a variety of undertakings might be carried
on, and the EnniskUlen branches of the Wholesale's work have
prospered ever since.
The Society, in 1885, took a very wise step. Its properties
were growing so rapidly that repairs and alterations kept a good
many tradesmen busy at times. The Society inaugurated a
building department of its own, under the direction of Mr James
Davidson, so that it would not only be able to carry on
productive enterprises, but erect factories in which to carry
them on. The department now employs about 230 workers,
and it undertakes the erection of buildings and the structural
alterations required by other societies, as wQl be found described
in another chapter. The first of the Society's hosiery factories
was established in Morrison Street in 1886 ; and, from that year,
the directors found it possible to look forward to greater
productive ventures than before. The reason for this greater
confidence was that, after three years of persistent pressure
upon the delegates at the Society's meetings, the directors
succeeded in securing the alteration of the rules which raised
the value of the shares from 10/ to 15/ each. Year after year
the matter had been broached by the directors as already men-
tioned, and at length came the special meeting in March 1886
when the change was agreed to. It has already been pointed out
126 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
that the original proposal of the promoters of the Wholesale was
that the shares should be £io each. That was thought to be
inadequate, and it was agreed that they should be raised to £25
before the Society actually started business. The £25 was
payable for every hundred members in the Society joining the
Wholesale, so that the shares represented 5/ per member ; and
the shares were withdrawable. In 187 1 the value of the shares
was raised to 10/ per member of each federated society and made
transferable. Mr Maxwell, putting the case for the increase
at the special meeting in 1886, pointed out that when the shares
were raised to 10/ the trade of the S.C.W.S. was £35,000 per
quarter ; but in 1886 it had increased to £350,000 per quarter.
He mentioned, also, that in 1871 the share capital represented
22 per cent, of the total working capital at the disposal of the
Society, the increase to 10/ had made the share capital 41 per
cent, of the totsd ; whereas, in 1886, with ten times the trade,
and a number of productive works going, the share capital
represented only 17^ per cent, of the total. The whole of that
big business of £350,000 per quarter was being run on a share
capital of £35,000. It was too httle. The total then, including
the reserves, amounted to £330,000 ; but the bulk of that might
be called upon at very short notice ; and it had happened that
one society, owing to interr^al differences, had actually called up
its whole investments except its shares. The members recog-
nised the position at last, and agreed. The change did not make
any immediate increase in the amount of capital in the hands
of the directors, but it changed the relationship between share
and loan capital sufficiently to strengthen their hands and their
courage. It should be added, however, that their courage, even
as things were could scarcely be thought lacking. For several
years they had been forging ahead. The schemes that had
been outlined from quarter to quarter in the president's speeches
and in the board minutes might well have urged the delegates
to advise caution and tempt them to apply the brake. The
directors, however, were resolute upon productive developments.
The Scottish banks came to an agreement to allow interest upon
the monthly balance lying at the credit of the Wholesale instead
of upon the daily balance. The distributive societies were
depositing their money with the S.C.W.S., as the S.C.W.S.
desired they should, but to pay interest upon that and get in
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 127
return only the ordinary bank interest was not altogether a
profitable transaction. In order to make their financial position
right, apart altogether from their desire to carry out the
intentions of the co-operative movement, the directors wished
to push ahead. They had already been reorganising many of
the distributive departments. The drapery and furnishing
businesses were being hampered for want of elbow-room. Some
of the workrooms, and some of the departments connected with
the drapery, occupied rented premises in a property in Morrison
Street, which is part of the block between Dundas Street and
Clarence Street intended for the new grocery departments which
are partly in process of erection now. It was desired to place
all the drapery and furnishing departments in the new building
being erected in St James Street and Dundas Street in 1885,.
and leave the grocery departments and the offices together in
the old building at Paisley Road. These rearrangements and
other evidences of serious attempts to consohdate and co-ordinate
the various departments of the Society were chiefly directed
towards a big forward move. Part of these developments was
the inclusion of a hall in the new building which was being
erected in 1886 in Clarence Street. The cost of including this
in the plans when the building was being erected in any case
was about £1,000 ; and the directors had agreed to obtain
power to have that included because they had calculated that
it cost the Wholesale about £30 per year for rent for the haUs-
for meetings of shareholders and for other occasions. The cost
of the new hall worked out, or was estimated to work out, at
about £50 per annum ; and it was anticipated that what the-
Society itself would save in rents, together with what it might
receive from other societies for the use of the hall when required,
would make the haU pay its own way. In addition to that,,
there was the feeUng that the possession of the haU would give
the Society something calculated to stimulate the social spirit.
One other departure of this period that ought to be mentioned,
in view of great developments that followed later, was the
inauguration of the miUinery department of the drapery
warehouse. This took place in the latter half of 1885, and in
September of that year the first S.C.W.S. millinery show was
held so that the buyers from the retail societies might have a
complete display of the Wholesale's novelties presented to-
128 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
them in the most convenient form. It was held in Glasgow,
of course ; but the societies in the East of Scotland were not
overlooked. They were, we believe, invited to send their repre-
sentatives to Glasgow ; but as many of them could not very well
do so, the directors and the manager of the drapery department
arranged for a special two-days' show in the Waverley Hotel,
Edinburgh, a week later. Those annual shows have multiplied
into three annual shows of millinery and mantles, one in the early
spring, one in the early summer, and one in the autumn; and
they never fail to attract large attendances of the heads of the
departments of the retail societies that handle the goods shown.
All this, however, did nothing more than popularise the goods
of the Wholesale ; and as the sales grew, the directors were
more and more compelled to face the question of extending the
productive departments of the Society. Permission had been
given for the erection of several factories, and the directors
had been on the lookout for a suitable site on which aU the
factories might be placed close together. One site had been
inspected at HiUington, and the directors had been in negotiation
regarding it ; but there were difficulties about drainage that
made it undesirable to make the purchase there at that time,
and the matter was dropped. In 1887, however, the directors
secured twelve acres of ground at Shieldhall upon which to
erect their great hive of industry. The original conception of
the place was that it was to be a miniature garden suburb with
the works in the centre and houses for the workers close at
hand. This conception was Mr Maxwell's. It was an
inspiration that had come to him on his way home from
America in 1884. He had seen the " big way " America had
of doing things, and he felt that the co-operators of Scotland
might do for their own economy what others did for doUars.
He has frequently told us of the headshakings that he saw,
and of the warnings he had even from some of his colleagues.
He cut the first sod there on 23rd July 1887, when he delivered
an address that teemed with satisfaction at what had been
accomplished by the Society up tiU then, and teemed also with
confidence of the success of the future, especially of the future
of that great undertaking. The Shieldhall of to-day is
described in a later page of this record,* but the president's
* See Descriptive Section.
S.C.W.S. GROCERY COMMITTEE— 1918
(I) Hugh Campbell. (2) Wm. R. Allan.
(3) William Gallacher. (4) George Thomson.
S.C.W.S. DRAPERY COMIVllTTEE-1918
"W^^^^^^^
iM MiiMu;
IL-5
'il!!ll||!il
(1) Robert Stewart, J. P. (2) Thomas Little.
(3) John Bardner. (4) James Young.
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 129
words on that occasion are worth remembering. To some
extent they are already fulfilled, and to some extent they are
still to be fulfilled. " I believe," he said, " the ceremony we
have been engaged in points out a new era in the relationship
between the seemingly antagonistic forces of labour and capital.
In a few years hence, I hold, if this undertaking is carried out
with efficiency, there will be no better field for the study of
the question of the future — the assimilation of capital and
labour." From that point of view Shieldhall has been a
wonderful experiment, the effects of which we wUl try to analyse
before we close these pages. Mr Maxwell, before concluding
that address, ventured into the realm of anticipation with some
of that poetic vision that sometimes characterised his speeches :
" I trust when years have revolved round the scroU of time,
and other busy hands and busy brains, after we have passed
away, have taken up this work, that this fair vaUey will be
peopled by thousands of contented folks^
" Whose best companions, innocence and health.
And their best riches, ignorance of wealth."
It is perhaps a melancholy reflection that, of the directors
who were responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the
Wholesale at that time, not one is now on the board. All have
died, except Mr MaxweU himself, and he found it necessary
to retire from the active work of the Wholesale ten years
before the Jubilee was reached. In one sense his vision
of the happy vaUey has not materialised. There were no
tramcars passing Shieldhall then. The estate on which the
ground was then situated was three miles from the central
premises of the Wholesale, and was outside the burgh of Govan
which was beyond the municipal boundary of Glasgow on the
south of the river. Now Shieldhall is within the city boundary.
The Wholesale paid £500 per acre for the ground of the happy
valley ; in 1914 it paid £1,400 per acre for another piece of
ground adjoining. The land had grown in value by no effort
of the proprietors ; its appreciation was due to the growth of
the city and ito the developments brought about by the
Co-operators and by others. Mr MaxweU, speaking at the
Co-operative Congress at Birmingham in 1906, mentioned the
increase that was even then being put upon the value of the
land of Shieldhall. He had been discussing the question of
130 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
direct representation of Co-operators in Parliament earlier in
the day, and the question of housing arose later. In the course
of his speech on the latter subject he instanced Shieldhall. He
told the Congress that the land they bought there was not
worth more than 30/ an acre per annum for agricultural
purposes, so that its price should not have been more than
£40 or ^50 per acre. Then when the Wholesale had gone into
the place and put up their factories, the price went up to £1,000
an acre. " Who created that value ? " he asked ; and he added :
" Can you understand now why it is better for us to be
represented in ParUament ? " The hit scored an effective point
in the day's discussion.
There were critics of the Shieldhall scheme. The societies
which constituted the S.C.W.S. were scattered all over Scotland,
and naturally each district thought that it should have a share
of the productive works established where the members would
be able to enjoy model employment. It is doubtful whether
there will be another Shieldhall ; but what has been done at
Shieldhall, as we know it, has been an object-lesson in many
ways. To whatever extent the place succeeded as an industrial
centre, it has never been the garden village Mr Maxwell con-
templated. Other works have sprung up. The Glasgow trams
whirl past on the road to Renfrew, giving the workers pleasant,
regular, and cheap travelling facilities to the city on one side
and the ancient burgh on the other ; while the Clyde ferry
affords easy communication with Partick and other populous
centres on the opposite side of the river. The prospective
opening of a new dock, which wiU only be separated from the
Shieldhall works by Maxwell Road, which skirts the west side
at present, will make the district more and more an industrial
area, and, even if the residental part of the original scheme
had been put into effect, the probabihty is that many of the
workers would move their residences elsewhere before many
more years. Mr MaxweU had Uttle reason to complain of the
great progress made during his first nine years on the board.
Six years before he was appointed, the directors were given
permission to borrow £5,000 on the security of the property;
before he was six years on the board, the Wholesale was lending
money to Co-operative societies on the security of theirs. We
have seen how those years had brought the inauguration of
PRODUCTIVE ENTERPRISES FOLLOW 131
those productive ventures which now employ 6,000 persons,
and many men would have been content with the lajdng of
the foundations of Shieldhall as a Ufe's crowning effort. Yet,
the year which saw the little ceremony of the cutting of the
first sod performed in presence of the directors and the heads
of departments, witnessed — two months earUer — the opening
of the Clarence Street hall, where the shareholders now meet
when the statutory meetings take place in Glasgow. In June
of that year, the big extension of the Leith warehouse was
formally opened at a gathering of delegates under the auspices
of the Wholesale Society and the East of Scotland Conference
Association. In August the printing department was opened
in the same building as the Clarence Street haU, under the
management of Mr David Campbell, of the Co-operative Printing
Company, Edinburgh. Mr Campbell had been one of the most
vigorous agitators in favour of the estabhshment of the Leith
branch of the S.C.W.S., and was well known throughout the
country as the secretary of the East of Scotland Conference
Association. Before the department was in working order the
directors had been authorised to include paper-ruUng and
bookbinding among the enterprises of the department. In
1887, too, the S.C.W.S. joined with the C.W.S. in the issue of
the Co-operative Wholesale Societies' Annual, which served a
useful purpose but which appeared for the last time in the
S.C.W.S. Jubilee year, its place being taken by the more
comprehensive People's Year Book. The " Annual," which
gave a mass of useful Co-operative information, was first
published in 1880. Mr P. Redfern records that copies of the
issue for 1883 had been sent to Queen Victoria and the Prince
of Wales. Sir Henry Ponsonby, acknowledging the copy, said :
" The Queen is glad to learn of the success of a movement which
not only encourages thrift, but which also teaches the habits
of business and promotes education among so large and important
a body of her people." The Prince of Wales's secretary wrote
that the Prince was " anxious to express the extreme gratification
which he experiences in finding that so large a body of the
working men of this country are united in a determination to
benefit themselves." The " Annual " was at that time the
exclusive property of the C.W.S., and it was not tiU 1887 that
it was first issued as a joint publication. In 1888 efforts were
132 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
made to begin a cattle-buying department. Inquiries were
made as to the trade the societies would be Hkely to give, and
on the strength of pledges from twenty-three societies, doing a
trade of £45,000 per annum, the work was undertaken. The
societies were slow to take advantage of the department at
first ; but it eventually grew, although societies in remote
districts, especially those near agricultural centres, regarded
cattle as local produce and made their purchases locally. The
printing department, however, proved successful from the
first under Mr Campbell's direction, and in two years it had to
be transferred to Shieldhall. That was 1889, the Society's
majority year.
IX.
THE SOCIETY'S COMING OF AGE AND A
RETROSPECT.
ORGANISED HOSTILITY OF TRADE RIVALS — TRADERS' DEFENCE ASSOCIA-
TIONS FORMED — WHOLESALE PRESIDENT FORECASTS THE RESULT —
PRESS CONTROVERSIES CULMINATE IN A PUBLIC DEBATE — TRADERS'
REPRESENTATIVE WORSTED — S.C.W;S. MAJORITY CELEBRATIONS —
MAMMOTH PROGRAMME AND A GALAXY OF CO-OPERATIVE CELEBRITIES
— WHAT THE WHOLESALE ACHIEVED DURING ITS MINORITY — PROFITS
SHARED WITH WORKERS — PROFITS SAVED FOR THE CONSUMERS —
A DISTRIBUTIVE TRADE OF TWO MILLIONS — THE TRIUMPH OF COMMON
SENSE.
The Wholesale's Majority Year was ushered in almost with a
royal salute. The movement was being torn to shreds,
figuratively — although it would have been literally if interested
opponents had had their way. While committees of retail
societies were lecturing their members on their duty to their
societies, and whilst the S.C.W.S. chairman was lecturing —
sometimes scolding — the delegates because their societies were
not giving all the trade they might give to the Wholesale, there
were others who thought the Wholesale Society and the retail
societies that composed it were getting too much trade.
Traders had ridiculed the early Co-operators for their " miserable
attempts at shopkeeping " ; but, now, the Co-operative
movement had grown to such an extent that it was regarded
as a menace to the community. Scarcely a meeting of the
Wholesale was held or scarcely a balance-sheet was issued
which was not attacked in letters to the Press. The Press
itself was not distinctly hostile ; because in 1887, when
Co-operators had reason to be hurt at somewhat unscrupulous
misrepresentations made in letters-to-the-editor, the Glasgow
Evening News and Star, for instance, printed a rather apprecia-
tive article on the Scottish Wholesale Society apropos of the
opening of the Clarence Street haU. Of course this, although
134 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
well enough intentioned, was simply made the excuse for fresh
outbursts on the part of those who saw their trade flowing into
the Co-operative channels. This kind of thing had been going
on for some little time; first attacks on the Wholesale, then
attacks on the retail societies, and even then the oppression of
individual members of retail societies. Paisley had the honour
of being one of the first places singled out for attack in 1886
or 1887. In spite of it all, the business continued to grow ;
members rolled in, and new departments, as we have seen,
increased in number. Mr Maxwell on more than one occasion,
referring to the sales reported in the balance-sheet, pointed to
the increases as reflecting the contempt with which Co-operators
regarded the threats and tactics of the interested parties. The
movement did not suffer from these attacks to any very serious
extent, for the attacks led to more frequent discussion of the
subject of Co-operation in the workshops. The formation of
traders' associations in most of the large towns in the country
showed unmistakably the depth of the hostility which the
success of the movement had provoked — nevertheless, Mr
MaxweU, at a quarterly meeting in 1888, anticipated even then
what the effect would be. " These associations," he said,
" formed for the express purpose of suppressing our movement,
will, I have no doubt, give an impetus to our cause. Their
loud outcry about the destruction of trade by Co-operation
has set many to think out for themselves the rival claims of
self-interest and associated effort. Personally, I am much
pleased at the turn affairs have taken lately."
The bitterness of the attacks upon Co-operation and the
vigour with which Co-operators replied were equally well main-
tained. The conflict culminated in a pubUc debate on 5th
February, in the Society's majority year, the principals in
the debate being Mr James Deans, of KUmamock, represent-
ing the Co-operative movement, and Mr Robert Walker, of
Glasgow (and now, we beheve, of Manchester), who represented
the Traders' Defence Association of Scotland. The debate took
place in the Waterloo Rooms, Glasgow. Each side had been
allowed 600 tickets, and the haU was filled, so that the enthusiasm
and interest in the debate were pretty widespread. The subject
for discussion was, in the words of the chairman (president of
the Glasgow ParUamentary Debating Association), "the whole
THE SOCIETY COMES OF AGE 135
question of Co-operation versus private trading." The spokes-
man for the traders put forward the commonplace statement
that they did not object to Co-operation pure and simple —
what they objected to was what Mr Walker called the
" delusive dividend system." That Mr Walker was not
familiar with Co-operative ideas was perfectly clear from the
fact that one of his chief objections to Co-operation was that
Co-operative manufactures had, in many cases, to be taken by
members no matter what the quality or cost might be. Had
Mr Walker had the privilege of attending many meetings of retail
societies, or even of the Wholesale Society, he would have
known how delusive any director would have found the idea
that Co-operators would be satisfied with " just anything."
The most effective speeches and the most effective arguments
were undoubtedly those of Mr Deans. The method by which
the traders attempted to oppress Co-operators was revealed by
Mr Deans, who floored Mr Walker by producing documentary
evidence of the deUberate boycott of Co-operators, the families
of Co-operators, and all who traded with Co-operators. He
produced circulars that had been sent to employers' offices
asking the employers of labour to use their influence to stem
the tide of Co-operation. Anonymous letters had been sent
to employers, bringing charges of a serious nature against
servants holding positions of responsibihty and trust ; and as
an evidence of what was going on, he read a cutting from a
Stirhng paper which we reprint in fuU : —
The Stirling Traders' Defence Association. — At a largely
attended meeting of this Association in the Lesser Hall on Wednesday
last the following resolution was unanimously adopted : — " That the
Association resolve to employ only those tradesmen and their
employees that support only individual enterprise. Having received
no proper satisfaction from the Caledonian Railway Company, have
resolved to act from this date in terms of memorial."
Whatever neutrals there were in the audience were impressed
with these statements more than by anything that Mr Walker
had had to say. That debate exposed the first of the series of
boycotts which have been attempted during the lifetime of the
Wholesale Society ; and, so appreciative were the Co-operators
of Scotland, that Mr Deans was made the recipient of a weU-
merited testimonial.
136 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
As events proved, Mr Maxwell's anticipations of the results
of these activities on the. part of the opponents of the movement
proved correct ; and when the Society came to celebrate its
majority everybody connected with it had good reason to feel
highly elated. In March of 1889 the nature of the celebration
of this event was discussed at a quarterly meeting, and all
agreed that the circiraistances in which the Wholesale Society
found itself were such as to warrant a fairly elaborate programme.
The celebrations took place on the 21st and 22nd June, and
were carried through with conspicuous success. A big meeting
was held in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, on the Friday evening.
On the Saturday morning the memorial stone of the new
drapery warehouse, at the comer of Dundas Street and Wallace
Street (then St James Street), Glasgow, was laid. The delegates
were taken to the works at Shieldhall by steamer, accompanied
by the Alva Brass Band. There was a celebration dinner at
Shieldhall, and in the evening there was a big pubUc demon-
stration in St Andrew's Hall. It may safely be said that,
excepting on the occasion of a Co-operative Congress, there had
never been in Scotland such a galaxy of the leaders of
Co-operation as took part in those celebrations. G. J. Holyoake,
an old favourite with divers Scottish audiences ; E. Vansittart
Neale, the general secretary of the Co-operative Union ; J. C.
Gray, his successor ; J. T. W. Mitchell, chairman of the C.W.S. ;
William Bates, of Manchester, and Joseph Clay, of Gloucester,
directors of the C.W.S. ; M. Haworth (Accrington), of the
Newspaper Society, and Samuel Bamford, the editor of the
Co-operative News ,\ T. Wilberforce, of Leeds ; WilUam Bamet,
president, and James Odgers, manager, of the Co-operative
Insurance Society ; and George Scott, of Newbottle, were all
among the English guests who figured on the list of speech-
makers. There was, of course, an excellent collection of
Scottish Co-operative orators. James Deans, John Barrowman,
James Nicholson (of Leith), Thomas Telfer (of the East of
Scotland Conference), William Barclay (of Kinning Park),
George D. Taylor (of Edinburgh), Poole (of Portobello), Ramsay
(of Bo'ness) were among those whose voices were usually heard
at any representative Co-operative gathering ; and even men
of such characteristic modesty as James Marshall and Robert
Macintosh were not allowed to escape their turns.
THE SOCIETY COMES OF AGE 137
Our description of the celebrations might be attributed to
a desire to flatter if we were to collect the recollections of those
who participated and who might be influenced by the pleasant
anticipations of the Jubilee celebrations ; but an excellent
impression has been left by Mr Holyoake in an article written
on the occasion. He had taken part in the inauguration of
the Paisley Road premises in 1873 ; and, after the lapse of
sixteen years of progressive development, when he revisited the
district for the majority celebrations, his impression of the
central premises was of peculiar interest : " The Wholesale
Society in the Paisley Road has greatly increased in dignity
since it has been increased in extent. I remember no business
block in the city, standing at the junction of two roads, more
imposing. Its colour gives effect to the red curtains, or red
paint, on the lower part of the many windows. One view of
the building presents seventy-nine windows. The aspect is as
bright and hospitable as that of a French hotel." His
description of the programme was no less interesting and much
more flluminating. From it we quote : " Early on Friday,
guests and delegates flocked into Edinburgh from England.
Around the Music HaU in Edinburgh, and afterwards in
St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow, were displayed names of persons
whom the Scotch Co-operators held in regard — Vansittart Neale,
Lloyd Jones, Thomas Hughes, Abraham Greenwood (in front
of the gallery), Robert Owen (in front of the platform),
J. T. M'Innes, and Alexander Campbell. It was the first time
I met my own name thus manifest. Tea had been provided
for 1,500 persons before the meeting, and it was amazing to
hear that each person on going out would receive a parcel
composed of some dainty edible product of the Wholesale.
The industry and resource were surprising which made up
1,500 parcels while the speeches were proceeding.
Handsomely bound books of procedure, with tickets too dainty
to be given up, were provided for the guests. - In the said book
we learned that after the Edinburgh meeting (which lasted tUl
near eleven at night) we were to take an early train next
morning so as to be in Glasgow by 9 o'clock ; and at 9.30, at
Dundas Street, over the river, at a foundation-stone laying —
to be in a steamer at 10, on the way to Govan, to be at
the Shieldhall banquet at 12, and again in St Andrew's Hall
138 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Glasgow, at five. We had great enjoyment, but we seemed to
take our sensations by electricity."
" The remarkable thing of the proceedings in the two cities,"
continued Mr Holyoake, "was the speeches of Mr MaxweU.
Though responsible for aU the arrangements, and superintending
them, and in the chair four times, altogether for twelve hours,
his own speeches were fresh, various, and informing, and
delivered with admirable perspicuity. As is the case with our
English meetings, too many persons were put down to speak,
which imposed upon the chairman constant vigilance as to
time. At Edinburgh there were twelve speeches ; at the stone-
laying, eight ; at ShieldhaU, twenty-eight ; at St Andrew's
Hall, twelve— sixty speeches all told. At ShieldhaU, toasts
had to be proposed in three-minute speeches, which did not
conduce to fulness of expression, for by the time a formal
speaker had got as far as ' Mr Chairman, guests, and delegates,'
his time was half-way up. Yet Mr Maxwell managed his
superabounding material with admirable art and untiring
energy. Had Dominie Sampson witnessed Mr Maxwell's two
days' work, he would with reason have called it ' prodigious.'
A multitudinous tea party preceded the assembly of the three
thousand who formed the audience in Glasgow. The morning
in the Carlisle theatre, one night in MUan, and the greeting of
St Andrew's HaU from persons I had never seen, I shall
remember together. The most remarkable of the miscellaneous
speeches of the night were those of Mr Deans and Mr Bamford.
Mr Deans, though shght in person and frail in appearance, has
a voice of gathering force and intensity, with a fluency which
does not hesitate as to terms, and is never wrong in the choice.
Mr Bamford is always reluctant and usually omits to publish
any approving reference to himself ; else I should say that his
speech had a quaUty of tone and charm of style which surprised
those who had not heard him speak on a platform before."
We should add to that that it was a striking demonstration
that was held to mark the laying of the memorial stone of the
new drapery warehouse. The stone was laid with ceremony
by Mr Andrew MiUar, the secretary, who 'was presented" with
a silver trowel with which to perform his task, the trowel being
presented to him by Mr Daniel Thomson, one of the most
cultured of the many men who have served on the Wholesale
THE SOCIETY COMES OF AGE 139
board during its whole history. It is interesting to record
that the memorial stone contained a jar in which had been
deposited copies of the Scottish morning newspapers, a copy
of the Co-operative News, a price list of the S.C.W.S., the
quarterly balance-sheet, and several other contemporary
documents. Mr Millar concluded his ceremony with the words :
■" I declare this stone to be square and level, and I express the
hope that aU transactions within these walls will be in harmony
with the stone — that is, just, square, and level."
Needless to say, the speeches delivered at each of the
gatherings were very largely congratulatory of the S.C.W.S.,
although the orators also found room to point out obstacles to
progress of which Co-operators everywhere ought to be warned.
There was some justification for congratulation, not only because
of the prosperity of the Wholesale Society, but because of the
progress the Co-operative movement as a whole was making.
The year before the Wholesale Society began there were 26,250
members in the societies in Scotland, whose total capital
amounted to £96,531, and whose annual trade was reckoned
at the then enormous figure of £801,110. The lapse of twenty-
one years had increased the membership to 159,753 ; the
capital had risen to £1,849,447 ; and the total trade done by
the Co-operative societies in Scotland in that one year amounted
lo £7,392,381, on which a net profit of £685,446 was available.
That difference was stupendous, and its effects were being
indicated in a variety of ways. In many places in Scotland
"these societies of working people were becoming the largest
holders of property. The societies were building homes for
people, and thus stabilising the lives of the people by giving
them a real material interest and something to work for. Of
the Wholesale Society itself during those twenty-one years an
enormous amount might be written by way of analysis.
During its minority period the Society had passed through its
warehouses goods to the value of £17,200,000. One singularly
interesting feature of the whole of this trade was that only
about £6,082 of bad debt had been contracted during the whole
time. The Wholesale had been singularly fortunate in con-
tracting so few bad debts. It was then regarded as being quite
satisfactory, in the ordinary commercial trade, if the total loss
from this cause remained under 2J per cent, of the sales. In
140 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
the case of the Wholesale Society the total bad debts for
twenty-one years worked out at one-sixtieth of the total.
The record of the twenty-one years may be stated thus : —
The capital invested in the Society amounted to £480,622 ;
whereas the capital invested in the whole of the Co-operative
societies in Scotland in 1867 amounted to £96,531. The
societies in membership in the Wholesale to begin with com-
prised only seven thousand persons ; but, by the majority
year, the membership had so increased that the Wholesale
Society represented 100,000 Co-operators. There were in
Scotland, in 1889, 327 registered Co-operative societies, twenty
of these owing to the nature of their business (they dealt in
exciseable Hquors) were ineUgible for membership. Of the
307 societies remaining, only twenty-five (less than one-twelfth
of the total) did not purchase from the Wholesale. Of the
remaining 282 societies which did trade with the Wholesale,
only forty-seven (one-sixth of the total) were non-members.
It is also worthy of note that of the total capital invested in
retail societies fuUy one-third was reinvested in the Wholesale
Society. The balance-sheet issued for March 1889, the last
before the celebrations took place, showed that the Wholesale's
own trade with the societies in Scotland amounted to £510,000
for the quarter. This was an increase of £83,000 over the
corresponding quarter of the previous year ; and it is specially
noteworthy that this increase alone — not the total sales — ^was
nine times the total turnover for the first quarter in which the
Society existed. The distributive expenses involved had not
exceeded 4|d. per £ in any year, and the rate had been as low
as 3d. per £. On their trade with the Wholesale Society the
retail societies had received, during those twenty-one years, an
average dividend of 6^d. per £ ; and the total net profits that
had been distributed amounted to £414,000. If put in the
plainest language, that would mean that in the twenty-one
years of its existence the S.C.W.S. had saved £414,000 for the
Co-operative societies in Scotland, whose members, but for the
Wholesale, would have had to pay that in profits to merchants
and manufacturers. The Society had property, bought on
fairly satisfactory terms, which with plant and machinery had
cost £133,000, but which had been written down to a nominal
value of £100,000 owing to the Society's policy of " generous
THE SOCIETY COMES OF AGE 141
depreciation." It had land to the value of ;£22,730. The
reserve fund, which was inaugurated in the first quarter by the
allocation of the total profits — £48, 12s. lod. — now amounted to
3^38,000. The Co-operators throughout the country had reason
to be satisfied, not only because they had set up their own organ-
isation and had done through it this huge trade of £17,200,000
which would otherwise have been done for them by others who
would have charged prices and supplied quaUties over which
the purchasers would have had no control, but they were gratified
chiefly because their productive ventures were already extending
and proving profitable. The first of their factories had not been
started till 1882, and it had already manufactured shirts to the
value of £10,243 ; its tailoring department, chiefly " ready-
made," had provided £40,917 worth of clothes ; the cabinet
factory, commenced in 1884, had in the intervening four and a
half years, produced £13,611 worth of furniture ; the printing
department, scarcely two years in existence, had done work to
the value of £5,617. The greatest triumph of all had been the
boot and shoe factory, which in the four and a half years had
had a run of success which gave it an output of 4,000 pairs
per week, and the value of its productions up tUl that date was
£145,652. In those few years in which these factories had been
in operation they had enabled the Wholesale to manufacture,
under its own control and according to its own ideas, a quarter
of a million pounds worth of the goods it sold, thus eliminating
a second profit on that part of its trade. All this trade was
worked most economically. Readers wiU have noted that
interest on capital invested was not regarded as something
that should depend upon the amount of profit earned ; interest
was regarded as a necessary charge for the remuneration of
those who lent their capital just as wages were regarded as a
necessary charge on the business for the remuneration of those
who lent their brains or their muscle to the business, and interest
was therefore allowed for before the net profits were declared.
Notwithstanding that, the total expenses of the distributive
trade had never exceeded 2 per cent. ; and Mr Maxwell, from
the chair at one of the shareholders' meetings, declared that no
merchant or merchants could continue to distribute their goods
for years, as the S.C.W.S. had done, for 2 per cent., including
the interest on capital. The Wholesale had made remarkable
142 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
efforts to bridge the distance between the producer and the
consumer, and thus made the wages of the consumer go further
than would have been possible — for the people who purchased
from the stores saved for themselves the retailers' profits; the
societies saved for their members the wholesale merchants'
profits by doing their own " wholesaleing " through the
S.C.W.S. ; and the S.C.W.S., to the extent of its quarter of a
million of productive trade, saved for the societies and their
members the manufacturers' profits. These operations were
enhanced in value by the Co-operation between the EngUsh and
Scottish Wholesale Societies. Four years were to elapse before
the formation of an International Co-operative AUiance was
resolved upon, although the Co-operators of different countries
were already exchanging ideas ; but at the majority celebrations
— at the opening meeting in connection with the celebrations^
Mr Maxwell, who subsequently became the honoured president
of the International Alliance, and could be certain of hospitality
from friends in almost every city in Europe and in many cities
outside of Europe, threw out one of many suggestions of his
which have set his Co-operative world thinking. He was
speaking of the great advantage that had been derived from
the joint trading arrangements between the English and Scottish
Wholesale Societies when he said : —
We are at the present moment the largest exporters of produce
from Ireland to this country. A great money gain has been made
through this union, but we had a greater gain by means of it ; we
have had a glimpse — if only a glimpse — of what might be done by
International Co-operation. Now that men are co-operating in
nearly every country in the world, what is to hinder the development
of this scheme so that they shou,ld do as the English and Scottish
Wholesales are doing — exchanging their products — and instead of
the rank and file of society meeting on the battlefields of Europe for
the purpose of annihilating one another at the command of some
potentate, they would then meet on the lines of peace and amity
for the purpose of studying each other's progress and happiness.
So much had been done and so much was contemplated to
bring producers and consumers closer together. Something
had been done to reconcile the interests of capital and labour.
The Wholesale's employees numbered 1,200, and they, like the
purchasers, shared in the profits of the business through the
bonus paid on wages. A later reference will be made to that
THE SOCIETY COMES OF AGE 143
subject in considering the Society's relations with its employees ;
but it will cause no digression here to record that up tUl the
majority year, the employees had received £8,605 ^^ bonus in
addition to their wages, which Co-operators held should be the
best paid an5rwhere. The share of this bonus which fell to the
workers in the productive departments worked out at rates
varying from 22 to 26 per cent, of the total profits earned in
those departments.
Mr Lloyd Jones, the well-known Co-operator, who had been
an Owenite and a Christian Socialist in turn, and who had been
attached to the North British Daily Mail (now merged in the
Glasgow Record and Mail), once declared that " in Co-operation
you have a thing which has succeeded in spite of every kind of
stupidity." The stupidities of the early days — ^it is nearly
half a century since these words were uttered — ^were pardonable
so far as they were perpetrated by the untutored men who
struggled in despair to save themselves from misery by resorting
to Co-operative experiments. Year after year had seen the
tragic procession of educated, and once wealthy, business men
through the halls of the Bankruptcy Courts. If they, in their
enlightenment, gravitated there, who dare revile the unschooled
if they should trip over some of the rocks in the sea of
commerce ? Stupidities there had been ; but, everything
considered, they had been comparatively few among the
Co-operative societies of Scotland, and they had been amazingly
few even in the first twenty-one years during which the S.C.W.S.
directors were steering their organisation over the cobble-road
of experience. The position in which the S.C.W.S. found itself
on attaining its majority must have given intense pride to those
concerned about the progress of a Society which, having come
into existence on the strength of pledges of trade to the amount
of ;£ioo,ooo per annum, was able to boast of an annual turnover
exceeding two rmUions when it came of age.
AN EVENTFUL DECADE IN WHICH THE SOCIETY
ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE.
NUMEROUS NEW FACTORIES ESTABLISHED — S.C.W.S. FURNITURE EXHIBITS
PRAISED — A MEMORABLE CONGRESS AND A SHIELDHALL GIFT FOR
LORD ROSEBERY — CO-OPERATIVE LIFE-BOAT LAUNCHED ON THE
CLYDE — ^PROSPERITY AROUSES ENVY — CO-OPERATORS CHALLENGED
— THE BOYCOTT PERIOD — PRIVATE TRADERS' WAR AGAINST WOMEN
AND CHILDREN — ■" NO CO-OPERATORS NEED APPLY " — TRADERS,
BUTCHERS, AND SOAPMAKERS BEATEN — THE WHOLESALE'S SPLENDID
SERVICE — THE FIGHT FOR CIVIC RIGHTS — " NINETY-FIVE MORRISON
STREET " — S.C.W.S. PRODUCTIONS REACH A MILLION — NET RESULT
OF THE BOYCOTT.
The next decade began weU, and a survey of the years which
brought the nineteenth century to a close showed wonderful
activity throughout Co-operative Scotland. The Wholesale
Society was stiU pushing forward in its laudable desire to cater
for all the wants of the Co-operators and their famiUes. The
quarter which succeeded that in which the majority was
celebrated gave remarkable evidence of the value of the fiUip
which Co-operation had received. During that quarter the
sales amounted to over £603,000, a sum which exceeded the
total trade for the year 1878. The increase in trade during
that quarter had been equal to about one thousand potinds per
day. This had been accomphshed with so Httle effort that
the directors and the managers kept pointing out to societies
that if this remarkable increase had been achieved so easily
a very httle effort would do an enormous amount to reduce the
difference between the amount of the goods sold by societies
and the amount sold by the Wholesale to the societies, and it
would also do a great deal to bring the amount of goods
produced in Co-operative factories much nearer to the amount
of the goods sold in Co-operative shops. Still further productive
factories were established, the first addition of ;this kind being
the brash factory. The printing department had to be
AUDITORS AT JUBILEE
(1) John Millen, P.A,
(elected 1886).
(2) Robert J. Smith, C.A.
(elected 1397).
(3) W. H. Jack, F.S.A.A,
(elected 1902).
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THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE ' 145
considerably extended, paper-bag making had been added tci
the operations of the department, and considerable additions
had to be made to the plant. The cabinet factory had been
extended, and it was as an adjunct to this that the brush
factory was inaugurated in January 1890. Progress was being
made with the erection of the buildings to accommodate the
preserve department, and this was inaugurated in June of the
same year.
Before the year closed the Co-operative Congress was held in
Glasgow. It was a memorable gathering, over which Lord
Rosebery presided on the opening day, and deUvered the
inaugural address — an address which has become historic
because of his description of the Co-operative movement as
" a State within the State." Mr Maxwell presided at the
second day's proceedings, and Mr James Deans, already known
to the Co-operators of the three kingdoms for his fighting
capacity, presided on the third day. The Congress was of some
considerable importance from the Co-operative point of view.
In the first place. Miss M. Llewelyn Davies raised the whole
question of the relations between Co-operation and socialistic
aspirations in a paper which Mr Holyoake described as
" socialistic." " Labour, Capital, and Consumption " was the
title of a paper read by Mr E. S. Bycraft ; but interest in
Co-operative progress in Ireland was aroused in a paper read by
Mr — ^now Sir — Horace Plunkett, who has recently loomed large
on the Irish stage. One of the outstanding events of the
Congress was the launching of a Co-operative lifeboat in the
Clyde from Glasgow Green. There was a big Co-operative
productive exhibition in connection with the Congress ; and,
after the formal opening of the exhibition, the delegates marched
from the City HaU to Buchanan Street Station where Co-operators
from aU the surrounding towns and villages were assembhng.
With banners waving and bands playing, a monster procession
marched to the Green and, amid a spate of oratory, the Ufeboat
was launched, the christening ceremony being performed by
the wife of the manager of the S.C.W.S., Mrs James Marshall,
and the boat was formally handed over to the representatives
of the National Lifeboat Institution. The whole business gave
offence to the opponents of the Co-operative movement chiefly
because the gathering on Glasgow Green was one of the largest
146 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
in history up till then — if we except the enormous crush that
was witnessed there at the miUtary review on the occasion of
Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. The press had to take notice
of events so important — first of all the presence in Glasgow of
Lord Rosebery who, in the eyes of the Glasgow citizens, is the
most popular sprig that is to be found on the whole tree of
Scottish nobUity ; and, secondly, the monster gathering on
Glasgow Green. Another incident in the Congress programme
brought some pubUcity to the movement. There was an
exhibition of Co-operative productions, as we have said. It was
a revelation to the Glasgow press and the Glasgow public to see
how extensive was the variety of goods produced in Co-operative
factories. One of the incidents of the Congress was the
presentation, made to Lord Rosebery by Mr Maxwell, of a
beautiful writing table made at the Shieldhall cabinet factory.
It was a work of art, beautifully designed, beautifully executed,
and gracefully presented ; and it aroused Lord Rosebery's
admiration. Some of the trade journals published descriptive
accounts of the exhibition ; and one of the journals representing
the furniture trade wrote in the most glowing terms of the
exhibits from the cabinet factory. A magnificent sideboard,
designed by Mr Alexander Thomson, a member of St George
Co-operative Society, and made at Shieldhall, elicited a specially
complimentary reference ; and the productions of the brush
factory were so exquisite that doubt was expressed as to whether
they were actually made at Shieldhall. There was no doubt
about it, of course ; but people engaged in the trade seemed
to take it for granted that Co-operators could not make first-
class articles. That error has been brought home to the public
frequently, in a variety of ways since then.
Developments were proceeding apace. In 1840 Mr John
Black, who had inaugurated the Kilmarnock depot, retired,
and was succeeded by his assistant, Mr William Laird. The
later years of Mr Black's management had been enlivened by
a vigorous agitation on the part of the Ayrshire societies to
have the Kilmarnock depot converted into a branch, like the
Leith branch, for the sale of goods. Some membei-s of the
board were eager to retain the depot simply as a collecting
centre for local produce ; but the Ayrshire Co-operators wanted
more than that. They wanted to be able to buy at KUmarnock
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 147
what they could buy at Glasgow, and their contention was that
the Wholesale would benefit by the change inasmuch as
increased trade would be certain to result. The matter was
discussed time after time at the Ayrshire Conference until the
Ayrshire societies reached unanimity in their demands. When
that stage was reached, they brought the question to the
quarterly meetings, and there were several battles royal fought
over the issue. Ayrshire's campaign was led by Mr James
Deans ; and it is amusing now, after the lapse of so many years,
to read some of the passages between Mr Maxwell and him,
especially as the two are among the few surviving links
between the past generation and ourselves.
Not satisfied with being mere manufacturers of boots, the
Wholesale had begun a Currying department, so as to get one
stage nearer the source of production. The tailoring factory
had developed so extensively that a new branch of the trade
was established by the opening, in 1890, of the artisan clothing
factory. In connection with the drapery warehouse a mantle
factory was opened in January 1891 ; in April of the same year
a confectionery works was added to the preserve factory ; and
three months later, the Wholesale decided that it ought to
manufacture a great amount of the tobacco it sold, and so the
tobacco factory was estabhshed, under the control of Mr
Thomas Harkness, an active member of the Kinning Park
Society, who was then in charge of a well-known tobacco
factory in Glasgow. The following year, 1892, saw quite a
number of important productive factories opened. In the first
month of the year, four big departures were made. The
manufacture of coffee essence, then a popular commodity, was
commenced at Shieldhall on a scale which proved utterly
inadequate before very long. The chemical department at
Shieldhall was another of the four new departments which began
business in this year. It was a small venture then, and its
operations were extremely limited ; but, before many years, it
was destined to play a big part in the development of Co-operative
trade and in upholding the rights of Co-operators. The establish-
ment of the engineering department was almost a natural result
of the establishment of a building department. The engineering
department undertook the repairing of a good deal of the
machinery in use in the society's premises ; it was responsible.
148 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
too, for the fitting of plant; and, later, became responsible
for the construction of plant and some of the society's structural
work. Ham curing was already one of the occupations of the
S.C.W.S., and, in 1892, a sausage factory was established, which
has come to fill an important place in the Wholesale's productive
activities. The tanning of leather was added to the currying
at Shieldhall, and ground, with buildings, was bought at Adelphi
Street, Glasgow, and utilised for the Parkview boot factory,
which specialises in children's boots and shoes. A pickle factory
was added to the group known as the productive grocery
departments. The cartwright department was established in
1894, and the same year witnessed quite the biggest venture
embarked upon up till then — the inauguration of the Chancelot
Mill, probably the most handsome flour mill in the world. This
enterprise had its origin in the speeches of some of those who
took part in the preliminary meetings held to discuss the possi-
biUty of forming a Wholesale Society. To those men the
acquisition of a flour mill seemed to be one of the first duties of
the proposed society. The time that elapsed before that
suggestion took practical shape was not lost. The Wholesale
had followed the practice of buying for an ascertained market,
and the same rule governed its ventures in production.
Frequently the subject of milling was introduced at quarterly
meetings, but it was not till February 1891 that the directors
formulated a scheme for the production of flour and meal. At
that time the Wholesale was selling to its society members
180,000 bags of home flour per annum, or 4,000 bags per week.
They decided to take measures to mill 4,000 bags per week, and
so they outlined their proposal to have a large mill in the East
of Scotland and another large mill in the West. The East came,
first in the realisation of the plan. Three acres of land were
secured at Bonnington, Edinburgh, and the first sod was cut in
January 1892. A great demonstration was held in August of
the same year to celebrate the laying of the memorial stone,
when nearly 20,000 Co-operators, accompanied by a dozen
bands, marched from the Leith Links to the site of the new mill.
The Wholesale directors and managers, representatives of the
English Wholesale Society and of the Co-operative Union, and
a number of other specially invited guests, rode in carriages at
the head of the procession, and, so large was the concourse of
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE I4!>
people that the carriages had left the starting-place half an hour
before it was time for those at the rear of the procession to move
from the Links. There has rarely been such a procession in
Leith. The opening of the mill in August 1894 was an occasion
of special rejoicing, and the ceremony was carried out in a
magnificent style. After an address from Mr Maxwell, who was
iiaturally jubilant over the triumph represented by the acquisi-
tion by Co-operators of such an establishment, the steam was
turned on by Mrs Maxwell. The description of the ceremony
recorded that " The wheel regulating the throttle valve was tied
with a blue ribbon, to which was attached a handsome jewelled
bangle. When this had been placed on Mrs Maxwell's wrist, she
turned the wheel, not without exerting some strength, and the
great fly-wheel began to revolve, slowly at first, then fast, pimid
ringing cheers." Sir James Russell, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
assisted Mrs MaxweU in this part of the ceremony. Mr Mitchell,
the C.W.S. chairman, and Messrs Tweddell and Sutherland,
his colleagues on the C.W.S. board, were among the guests at
the gathering. The mill was capable of producing twenty-five
sacks of flour per hour, or 3,500 per week, but it was built for a
larger trade. It seemed an enormous undertaking for the
Wholesale to equip a mOl of such capacity then, but, when the
1914 war broke out, the Society's mills were turning out about
12,000 sacks of flour and meal per week.
We have already seen something of what the Traders'
Defence Association had attempted in the year of the Wholesale
Society's coming-of-age. The progress which the movement
was making, and which has been set forth in this chapter, could
not continue without arousing hostility. There was " sniping "
of all sorts going on in the columns of the Scottish newspapers—
particularly the evening newspapers — ^in 1893 and later. The
Traders' Defence Association itself, after the failure of Mr
Walker's encounter with Mr Deans, had refrained from coming
prominently into the limelight ; but its hand was being forced.
By 1895 the Wholesale Society had command of nearly a
milUon and a quarter of capital, and its sales touched three and
a half million pounds. That made the S.C.W.S. a formidable
institution ; but it was only the central organisation of the
Scottish societies, which had almost four millions of capital, sales
exceeding ten and three-quarter millions, and, in that one year.
150 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
had disbursed as dividends to their members a sum of almost
a million and a quarter. These societies, unlike individuals in
trade, took no steps to conceal their prosperity. Their share-
holders' meetings in some villages and towns afforded excellent
copy for the local newspapers, not because the papers were
disposed to favour Co-operation, but because in many places
nearly every householder in the community was a member of the
society, and was entitled to speak at the meetings. The news
value of such meetings was considerable, as the proprietors and
the editors fully recognised. The same thing, though perhaps
in a lesser degree, applied to the larger towns. Balance-sheets
were freely sent to the newspapers, and, as the average
Co-operative balance-sheet is generous to a fault in the wealth
of detail it supplies to the reader, the most minute details
regarding the business of the societies were brought before the
eyes of the critics on the papers to be commended or questioned
at wUl. There was rarely criticism of an unreasonable character,
and only rarely was there any lavish commendation ; but, on
the whole, the one fact that was apparent to the staffs of the
papers was the steady growth of the local society — growth which
aroused interest in some cases and even caused some Uttle
amazement. The repeated tale of progress quarter after quarter
alarmed the traders, and they could ill afford to keep silence,
even if they fully reahsed that, " if they were to stud every hill
in Scotland with a Robert Walker, the Co-operators of Scotland
would be able to put alongside of him a James Deans," as Mr
Scott, of Newbottle, had said at the majority celebrations. The
" letters to the editor " began to grow more numerous, till at the
beginning of 1896 these communications — few of which were
signed with the names of the writers — were so common, and
their contents so similar, that it was perfectly clear that they
were being organised.
There were three distinct classes of people eager to stop
Co-operative progress. In the first place, there were the shop-
keepers, who saw their customers leaving them to join the
Co-operative stores ; in the second place, there were the agents
and wholesale firms, that had no reason to complain till the
S.C.W.S. began to grow and to sell goods that they used to sell
to the societies ; and, in the third place, there were the manu-
facturers, who were eager for the trade of the Co-operators, and
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 151
willing to sell to the societies or to the Wholesale, but who were
shrewd enough to observe that, if the growth continued and
productive enterprises grew, they themselves might be the next
to be dispensed with. Each section of this triple alliance issued
its challenge to the Co-operators. Those shopkeepers, who were
banded together in the Traders' Defence Association — a body
which was considerably less representative of the trading class
than it pretended to be — organised a boycott of individual
Co-operators. An individual trader, a Mr Gilchrist of Glasgow,
issued a circular in May 1896, urging fellow-traders to resolve
that, on and after a certain date, they would " not employ in
any capacity whatever any person, young or old, who is in any
way, whether relative or otherwise, connected in the most remote
degree with any so-called Co-operative society which carries
on trading, either wholesale or retail." It was also to be an
article of faith that those who gave their adhesion to this
covenant should not buy from any firm who had any transactions
with any Co-operative dealers. The Traders' Defence Association
resented this individual's attempt to arrogate to himself the
prerogatives of the association ; but the Traders' Defence
Association had to move, and so it, in turn, issued a circular,
which was published in the Glasgow Evening Times of 25th
May 1896. The circular urged that immediate steps should be
taken against Co-operation, and a notice was enclosed with each
circular sent out, the intention being that the notice should be
displayed in the business premises of the party to whom it was
sent. The following is the text of the notice : —
" All employees, who are directly or indirectly connected with
any co-operative society, must cease to have such connection
before ... if they wish to retain their employment, or accept
this intimation in lieu of the usual notice to leave."
The legality of this proceeding was a matter for careful con-
sideration by Co-operative organisations ai the time, and it
was apparently also a matter that gave some little anxiety to
the Traders' Defence Association, for Mr Robert Mowat,
president of the Traders' Defence Association, who signed the
circular, was careful to point out to the addressee that " you
must understand that it is left solely to your own discretion
as to whether you should use the notice." These incidents
mark the beginning of the campaign known as the 1896 boycott.
152 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
So far as the shopkeepers were concerned, we believe it is correct
to say that the larger men in business were not particularly
concerned about this crusade. They had the impression that
they could beat the Co-operative societies by orthodox business
methods, and, frequently, Traders' Defence Association speakers
and writers upbraided the bigger shopkeepers who would not
associate themselves with the somewhat contemptible tactics
resorted to by the Traders' Defence Association.
Some of those who were concerned in this form of the boycott
were ashamed of those tactics, and it might possibly be denied
that anything in the nature of individual persecution was resorted
to. It is weU, therefore, that we should cite typical cases that
occurred, and that were catalogued by the Co-operative Vigilance
Association, of which the chairman and secretary respectively
were Mr Peter Glasse, of the S.C.W.S. board, and Mr James
Deans.
In Uddingston the sons and daughters of a number of members
were dismissed by local merchants by whom they had been
employed. In one case the person dismissed was a boy working
for 5/ per week, and who was employed by Messrs Thomas
Nesbitt & Sons, who wrote to the boy's father as follows :- —
Havelock Place,
Uddingston, 27th June 189fi.
Mr Gaughan,
Dear Sir, — On account of the attitude of traders and co-operation
I have to inform you that Bertie works his warning to leave next
Saturday. This action is not arbitrary, only in defence of our trade,
which by the present system of dividends is being ruined, and also
the country, and our sons' and daughters' welfare are at stake. — I am,
yours truly, Thomas Nesbitt & Sons.
Robert Ritchie, aged fifteen, an apprentice grocer, was
dismissed because his father was a member of the Strathaven
Society. Another lad of the same age, employed in an iron-
mongery shop, was' dismissed because his mother (a widow) was
also a member of the Strathaven Society. In both cases the
parents got the option of withdrawing from the society as an
alternative to the dismissal of their children.
The shopkeepers identified with the Traders' Defence
Association used their influence with manufacturers to secure
the dismissal of Co-operators and their sons and daughters.
In May 1896 Messrs Scott, preserve makers, Carluke, summoned
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 153
a meeting of their workers, and intimated that those who were
members of the Co-operative store must give up the store or
leave their work. They explained, in a letter to the society,
that necessity was laid upon them in the action they took. A
good many of their workers, who resented the ultimatum, never-
theless found it necessary to give way. The two daughters of
the secretary of the society, who would not do so, were dis-
missed from their work.
An organisation professing to represent the great trading
interests of the country might have been expected to prove by
trade methods the weakness of Co-operation, but its adoption
of the policy of securing the dismissal of widowed charwomen,
and of the children of widows, because of a family association
with the Co-operative store, exposed the hoUowness of their
case. The Co-operators had to accept the challenge, however.
Railway companies that threatened the dismissal of Co-operators
were met with a threat to transfer Co-operative traffic, and it
usually sufficed. "V^Tiere dismissals by shopkeepers and others
engaged in ordinary trade did occur, efforts were made by the
local societies to find employment for those displaced, and, if
they did not succeed, the Wholesale Society frequently found
employment for the victims. A young man ordered to hve at
the seaside went to Ayr and found a situation. He was
dismissed at the instance of the boycotters because his parents
were connected with a Glasgow society. He found another job,
and his persecutors again secured his dismissal. The Co-
operative Vigilance Association took the matter up, and, as a
result of their intervention, the Kilmarnock Society estabUshed
its first Ayr branch, and, in Ayr, the society is now doing a trade
of £130,000 per annum. A few years later, when a local baker
attempted to revive a boycott in Ayr, his fellow traders quietly
pointed to the trade that was going into Co-operative channels
in Ayr because of earlier stupidity of that sort, and quietly
hinted that he should desist. Similar causes brought Co-
operative stores into existence later in Dunoon and Helensburgh,
and that method of boycott failed generally because of the
resolute action of the retail societies, backed by the Wholesale
Society.
A more skilful, though equally unfruitful, attempt at boycott
was made by the Fleshers' Association of Glasgow. The first
154 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
"blow was struck when a notice was exhibited in the Dead Meat
Market in Glasgow, intimating that, in accordance with the
resolution passed at a mass meeting of master fleshers in the
Glasgow Trades Hall on 25th June (1896), " from and after this
date no Co-operative society will be supplied at this establish-
merlt." All the salesmen, except two or three, agreed not to
deal with Co-operative societies. The superintendent of the
market, which was the property of the whole of the citizens,
ordered the notice to be taken down ; but that made no
difference, because the salesmen, members of the association,
abided by the resolution. That was the spirit displayed in the
Dead Meat Market. The salesmen there would not only decline
to sell to any representative of a Co-operative society, but
decided that they would have no dealings with anybody who
would sell to a Co-operative society. According to reports of a
meeting held on 23rd March 1897, Mr Roderick Scott stated that
the object of this campaign was " to close the fleshing depart-
ments of the Co-operative societies.' Mr D. MTntyre, of 43
Candleriggs, Glasgow, writing to the convener of the markets
committee of the Glasgow Corporation on 26th March 1897,
protested against the attempt of the majority of the salesmen to
coerce those who would not sign a pledge of their refusal to deal
with Co-operative societies. He claimed to have purchased
more meat than any individual, or firm, in Glasgow through the
Meat Market.
Things were no better at the Cattle Wharf sales. The
Glasgow Herald of 29th March 1897 contained an advertisement,
by " Roderick Scott, auctioneer," relating to the sale of 150
prime States cattle, in which it was announced that " No Co-
operative societies, or persons selling to or deaUng with
Co-operative societies, directly or indirectly, will be allowed
to bid." The Cattle Market, like the Dead Meat Market, was
the property of the citizens, and was provided for the good of
all the citizens. It was a violation of the civic rights of Co-
operators to be refused the use of the markets in this fashion,
and the Town Clerk intervened, in a letter to Mr Roderick Scott
on 6th April 1897, to point out that the exclusion of bona fide
bidders would be illegal.
This action on the part of the fleshers and the meat and
cattle salesmen challenged the Co-operators at two points. It
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 133
challenged them as citizens who were entitled to free access to
the public markets, and it challenged them to find cattle and
meat in defiance of the boycotting butchers. In 1896 the
Glasgow Co-operators worked, in conjunction with the trade
unionist. Labour, and Irish Nationalist organisations, to secure
the election of members of the Corporation pledged to secure
fair play for the citizen-Co-operators ; and the result of the
combination was the election of a number of democratic members,
who became known in the Town Council as the " Stalwart
Party." Similar methods were adopted by the Co-operators
in other districts ; public meetings were held in all the towns
where the boycott was being attempted, and the societies in
Scotland formed a defence fund of £20,000. The Co-operative
VigUance Association did excellent work at that time, and Peter
Glasse and James Deans, particidarly, were ceaseless in their
efforts to organise the defences of the movement against every
stratagem adopted by their opponents. The methods adopted
by either side did not lack vigour ; but the traders — fleshers and
others — ^took serious exception to a manifesto issued by the
Vigilance Association (in reply to the Gilchrist circular) in which
it was stated that " the object of our (Co-operative) enterprise
is to eUminate the principle of individuaUsm from trade and
commerce." They made emotional appeals to the public to
reaHse that the Co-operators meant " to eliminate the traders,"
forgetting that the traders, from the nature of their competitive
system, were seeking to eliminate each other. The battle for
the recognition of the civic rights of Co-operators succeeded ;
and, in 1897, the Glasgow Corporation — thanks to the efforts of
the Co-operative organisations and their friends — passed by-laws
regulating sales in the public auction rings of the city markets.
These by-laws required every auctioneer to accept bona fide
bids, and prescribed penalties for \'iolation of this regulation.
The fleshers did not like this. They refused to recognise the
right of the Corporation to compel salesmen to sell to people
to whom they did not want to sell ; and appeal followed appeal
till, finally, the House of Lords declared that the by-law was
competent, and that the Corporation was entitled to enact it.
The boycotters then ceased to conduct public auctions, and sold
their cattle in private rings. The problem of supplies of meat
for the Co-operators was one which had to be solved by the
156 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Wholesale Society. Local societies began to buy from local
farmers, and the fleshers and salesmen did their best to organise
a boycott by the farmers. In that they failed. The Wholesale
Society's cattle buying department was a valuable asset to the
Co-operators in the large towns. The head of the department —
Mr W. Duncan — ^had put the resolution of the fleshers to the
test, and had bid £20 for an animal at the " anti-Co-operative
sale," to which we have already referred. The bid was refused
on his giving an afBrmative answer to the question : " Do
you represent the Co-operative Wholesale Society ? " An action
for damages was taken by the society against Mr Roderick Scott
for his refusal to accept the bid ; but, as that was prior to the
passing of the by-laws, the case went against the Society. An
action was then taken against the Fleshers' Association for
conspiring with the cattle salesmen to damage the trade of the
S.C.W.S. by refusing bids, but the case was dismissed by Lord
Kincairney in 1897.
In the meantime, the Wholesale, while seeking to uphold
its legal rights, had not neglected practical measures. Direct
weekly consignments of cattle were arranged for in Canada ; and
these, arriving regularly, enabled the societies to meet the
demands of their members. The Wholesale Society discharged
its duty admirably. Its resources were taxed because a number
of retail societies, that had found it more convenient to purchase
at local markets, were compelled by the boycott to purchase
through the Wholesale Society's buyers.^ The Wholesale was
equal to the occasion. It had to enable the retail societies to
sell the best quality of beef, as they had been accustomed, at
prices which would enable them to compete with private fleshing
shops. At first this involved some little loss, but the societies
were able to keep their fleshing business going in defiance of the
iron ring of boycotters, and, before long, the trade was as profit-
able as ever. The fleshers congratulated themselves in their
public assemblies, bvit the success with which they were
circumvented caused their mirth to have a hollow ring.
The net result of this boycott was that the inconvenience to
which it was intended to subject the Co-operators of Scotland
affected the whole population of the industrial centres. The
dispute destroyed Glasgow as an open market. For months and
for years afterwards the revenues from sales were so far short
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 157
of meeting the expenditure upon the market that very heavy
losses were recorded in the municipal accounts. Canada and
the United States practically stopped sending cattle to Glasgow.
There would, of course, have been a decrease in the number of
foreign cattle arriving, because, in 1896, the Government
imposed restrictions upon the importation of cattle arriving at
British ports, by enacting that animals, which were formerly
sent to the fields to be fed and fattened must be no longer used
that way lest they might infect home herds with disease, but must
be slaughtered before they were removed from the wharf of
disembarkation. This would have led to a diminution of the
supphes, but it would have affected aU ports engaged in the
cattle trade. The detrimental effect of the boycott was proved
by the fact that many of the cattle formerly consigned to
Glasgow were consigned to Liverpool and London ; and Mr
Roderick Scott, at a meeting of the Glasgow Town Council, in
the writer's own hearing, admitted that the strife had the effect
of increasing the price of beef by ^d. per lb. It had also the effect
of increasing the municipal rates by ijd. per £ to make good the
loss of municipal revenue occasioned at the city's wharves and
markets. This extra Jd. per £ in prices was due to carriage
having to be paid from Liverpool, and it was calculated that
the loss to the citizens on this account equalled ^f 300, 000 per
year. The loss on the cattle wharves through falling revenue
in one year alone was £21,000. In addition to that Mr Roderick
Scott admitted that shipowners lost about £100,000 a year
in freights. So that the whole city suffered heavily from the
boycott. From a commercial point of view, the Co-operators
had not much to complain of eventually. The Wholesale
organised its trade to such excellent purpose that the meat trade
of the societies began to grow enormously ; and, from that
period, it was no uncommon thing to find people who were not
members of the store purchasing their meat there, and becoming
members because of the excellent quaUty of the meat sold in
the stores. It is doubtful if there is a single society in the West
of Scotland which has not had that experience.
The boycott had another effect. It created such a wave of
loyalty on the part of Co-operators determined not to be beaten ;
it led to such widespread discussion of the respective merits of
Co-operative and competitive trading ; and it aroused so much
158 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
general resentment against the tactics of the traders and
fleshers — even in the editorial columns of the newspapers — that
it increased the membership, capital, and trade of the societies
very considerably. For example, the trade of the Wholesale
Society alone for 1897 showed an increase of 15-2 per cent, over
the trade of 1896. The trade of 1896 was io-8 more than that
of 1895 ; and 1895 showed an increase of i2-8 over 1894. The
trouble had begun in 1895, and reached its climax in 1897. The
trade of the Wholesale for 1897, in sterling, was £1,349,272 more
than for the year 1894. In other words the increased trade
derived by the S.C.W.S. during those three years when the
opposition was so bitter exceeded the total amount of annual
trade reached after sixteen years' operations. How the societies
in Scotland generally were affected may be gathered from the
fact that, in 1894, their total membership was 229,409, the
capital held by them was £3,596,516, and their total sales com-
bined were £10,115,126 ; the corresponding figures for 1897
were respectively 276,053, £5.323.923. and £13,669,417 ; or, to
summarise, those three years brought increases of 46,644 in
membership, £1,727,407 in capital, and £3,554,288 in trade. As
a corporate body, it will be admitted, the Co-operators had
little to complain of.
A more audacious challenge came to the Wholesale Society
from people of bigger calibre than the fleshers or the shop-
keepers, although the challenge was no doubt prompted by these
smaller fry. Fortunes had been spent in advertising soaps of
various brands by some of the largest firms of manufacturers
in the country. These firms, not content with fixing the price
that their customers must pay for their soap, also fixed the
price at which their customers must sell the soap to the people
who supported their shops. There was a standard retail selling
price for some of these brands, and Co-operative societies, we
believe, kept to that price as other people did. The proprietors
of the stores, who were, of course, the people who bought the
goods in the stores, believed they had a right to do as they pleased
with their profits, and the profits on their soap trade went into
the dividend as did the profits on their butter trade. It was
very probably owing to the representations of shopkeepers that
the firm in question attempted to lay down the ultimatum
that no dividend must be allowed upon soaps of its brands. It
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 159-
was an absurd position to take up for two reasons. In the first
place, the profit would continue to be made on the soap ; and,,
if dividend was not to be paid on soap purchases, the
dividend available for distribution on general purchases would
have been proportionately larger, and the net result to the
purchaser would have been the same. It was also absurd, in view
of the protests that commercial men have raised against the
entire system of controlling prices, to which the Government
has had recourse during the war, because one of the excuses for
the making of millions of excess profits has been that the people
engaged in trade were forced to make profits in spite of them-
selves, and that the control of prices therefore meant that the
pubhc were compelled to pay more than was necessary for their
goods. Many of the arguments used by traders since the war
began have disposed of the arguments they were accustomed
to use before the war.
The attitude of the Co-operators was one of resentment when
this firm attempted to lay down the law as it did ; and the
"Wholesale Society's reply was to close the account with the
firm rather than submit to its dictation. The English Wholesale
had begun soapmaking on a big scale in 1891, alfhough it had
been doing a little from 1874, and the two Wholesales saw eye
to eye upon the need for resenting interference of that kind.
The shareholders backed up the Wholesale directors, and a
number of the societies stopped selling the products of the firm
in question. The movement was determined that their collective
power would be. used to prevent the millionaire soapmakers
from adding to their profits at the expense of the working-
people for whom the societies catered. What could be, spared
of the products of the C.W.S. works at Irlam was taken by the
S.C.W.S., and eventually the S. C.W.S. established its own works
at Grangemouth, where remarkable success has since been
achieved. The soap manufacturers made every effort to prevent
these works from succeeding. The system of giving presents, or
prizes, for soap wrappers, a system that showed to what depths,
competition had sunk, was extensively developed and extensively
advertised. It had the effect of retaining custom for the big
firms for a time, but the absurdity of the system at length
appeared to people, who recognised that the presents could only
be paid for by the people who bought the soap ; and Co-operators.
160 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
were among the first to see that the truer economy was to abstain
from making profits for the soap kings, and to buy bicycles or
whatever other presents they wished with the money the}' saved.
The support given to the Wholesale by the retail societies in this
matter reflects the greatest credit upon many of them. Some
of the largest societies, societies that did a very considerable
trade in the popular brands, resolved that they would not sell
these brands in the stores, and that, if members would ask for
them, they would be ad\'ised to take their own makes from their
own works. One of the most interesting stages of the fight was
when a society would have notice of a resolution printed on the
agenda for its members' meeting. Frequently, in such cases,
there would be a special staff of advertising agents, bDl deliverers,
and sample distributors put on to the district concerned by
several of the largest firms in the trade, in order to secure the
defeat of the motion. When societies did pass a resolution to
exclude these soaps from their stores there were always some
members who still wished to procure supplies ; but they had
to find them elsewhere. They argued that it was the duty of a
Co-operative society to provide what its members wanted ; but
the loyal members replied that it was not the duty of a
Co-operative society to use its stores for the sale of goods made
by firms who were out for the purpose of rendering Co-operative
productive factories unprofitable. In most cases, resolutions
to confine the sales to Co-operative productions led to a slight
faUing-off in the sales of soap ; but in most cases, also, it
happened that that was only a temporary state of things, and
in the end the Co-operative productions came into their own.
On the whole, the societies handsomely backed up the Whole-
sale's acceptance of the challenge of the big producers, and the
Grangemouth soap works are now the largest soap works in
Scotland, producing exclusively for the Scottish trade.
Despite all these efforts to restrict Co-operative progress,
and despite the added responsibihties that these challenges
imposed upon the Wholesale, the Wholesale Society forged
ahead, and carried the whole movement to fresh achievements
in the realm of production. The Ettrick Tweed MiUs, started
at Selkirk by a few Co-operative enthusiasts who formed the
Scottish Tweed Manufacturing Society in 1890, was purchased
by the S.C.W.S. in 1896. The Wholesale had been purchasing
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 161
almost the whole of the society's productions, and it seemed
only natural that, under such circumstances, the Society should
own the mills. The matter was amicably arranged at last,
although there were a few strenuous Co-operators — Mr W. E.
SneU, for example — who were opposed to the idea, and who
thought the mill should still be carried on by the Tweed Society.
A waterproof factory was established in June 1896, in which a
highly successful trade has been built up for the societies
connected with the two Wholesales.
The tobacco factory was extended to double its productive
capacity in 1897, and the cabinet factory was also extended in
the same year. One of the most important productive ventures
was the purchase of the Junction meal and flour mills at Leith,
which had belonged to Messrs John Inglis & Sons. The mills
there had equipment for the production of 700 bags of oatmeal
weekly, the flour mill being set aside then for the preparation
of semolina and kindred foodstuffs. The directors secured with
the miUs about an acre of ground, upon which further productive
departments were erected later ; but there still remained the
desire for a flour miU in the West of Scotland, for which there
was ample work. A year later saw the opening of the butter
factory at EnniskUlen, with four auxiliary depots for the
collection and separation of milk. The aerated water factory
was commenced at Glasgow in October 1897, and a similar
factory was opened at Leith in 1898. A creamery, established
at Bladnoch, Wigtownshire, was opened in February 1899, and
there was laid the foundation of what promised to be an
extensive margarine factory. One of the most important
departures of the year was the establishment of the fish-curing
station at Aberdeen. This department has succeeded admirably.
The first station had to be enlarged soon after it was opened.
The next extension required was so large that a new site had to
be found, and a new building erected, and even that became
too small in less than two years. The department, with the
financial resources of the Wholesale behind it, can secure always
the pick of the fish, and goods to the value of over a mUlion and
a quarter have passed through it since it was established.
This is surely a wonderful record of productive developments*
to follow upon a period of virulent boycott ; but distributive
* For details see Descriptive Section.
162 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
developments had also taken place. The Carbrook Mains Farm
was leased for the stocking of cattle. Property in Chambers
Street, Edinburgh, was purchased for a branch of the furniture
department, and was formally opened in 1898 ; ground was
purchased in Paterson Street and Dundas Street, Glasgow, for
factories and stables. The biggest venture of all was the
purchase of the old fair ground in Morrison Street, between
Crookston Street and Clarence Street, upon which were erected
the magnificent buildings which constitute the headquarters of
the great federation.*
The new building, one of the most ornate in Glasgow, was
opened with great ceremony on 2nd January 1897, and the
demonstration that took place directed public attention, in a
remarkable way, to the great strength of Co-operation in
Glasgow. The proceedings took the form of a huge procession
of over 300 vehicles, in the foremost of which were seated
directors of the Scottish and EngUsh Wholesale Societies,
members of the Scottish Section of the Co-operative Union,
representatives of the district Co-operative conference associa-
tions, and delegates from many Scottish societies. Messrs
R. Holt, T. E. Moorhouse. J. Clay, J. Goodey, G. Binney, and
T. Rule represented the C.W.S. ; Mr C. Fielding represented
the tea department ; and Mr Jackson represented the C.W.S.
boot department. Mr S. Kenyon represented the Central Board
of the Co-operative Union, and Mr M. Haworth represented the
Co-operative Newspaper Society. Following the vehicles
carrying the officials and delegates were decorated lorries
representing the numerous departments of the S. C.W.S. and the
various productive and distributive societies in the city. It
was the most remarkable demonstration that had taken place
since the launching of the Co-operative Ufeboat, although
January is not a month which readily attracts people to outdoor
demonstration. An interesting fact recorded in the Co-operative
News report of the scene is that the van of a local biscuit
manufacturer got in Une with the procession, " but the reception
accorded to this individuaUstic intruder was anything but
flattering." The procession paused in front of the new building,
where a number of the more prominent guests dismounted witii
Mr Maxwell, the architect, and the S.C.W.S. directors. Mr
*See Descriptive Section, "The Central Premises."
THE SOCIETY ACCEPTS A CHALLENGE 163
Maxwell formally declared the premises open for Co-operative
purposes amid the cheers of the thousands congregated there.
Mr Daniel Thomson presided at this part of the proceedings.
Mr Bruce, of Messrs Bruce & Hay, architects, presented Mr
Maxwell with a beautiful gold key with which he formally
opened the doors, and the delegates crowded in to inspect their
new premises. About 800 aiterwards sat down to dinner at
which Mr Maxwell presided. There was a note of jubilation in
his tone when, in proposing " The Queen and the People," he
said : " Step by step, through many doubts and difficulties, the
Society has won its way, not only into the confidence of Scottish
Co-operators, but into the confidence of the commercial world
at large. Its name on any market is synonymous with absolute
security and untarnished honour." Among the orators on that
occasion were some — living and dead — whose names are still
cherished : James Deans, Henry Murphy, Peter Glasse, John
Pearson, John GemmeU (of Paisley), Duncan M'CuUoch (of the
U.C.B.S.), M. Ross (of Cowlairs), Andrew Miller (then secretary
of the S.C.W.S.), Isaac M'Donald, and John Adam (of the
S.C.W.S. board), the C.W.S. directors ; and the Glasgow
Corporation was represented on the toast list by Baihe Alexander
Murray and Bailie Primrose — afterwards Sir John Ure Primrose,
Bart. — ^both of whom spoke very cordially.*
It will be admitted that the strides made by the Wholesale
in the decade which followed its coming of age were remarkable.
To have increased the annual turnover from £2,273,782 to
£5,014,189, and to have plunged into so many productive schemes
of considerable magnitude was sufficient to startle even Co-
operators themselves ; for it did seem remarkable that the value
of the productions transferred from the Wholesale's factories
should have reached so high a figure as a million per annum.
The traders had proclaimed a holy war against the movement ;
the butchers had resolved upon the closing of the fleshing depart-
ments of the stores ; the soap people had challenged the
Wholesale. Every challenge had been accepted. Almost every
new productive department established by the Wholesale meant
that other makers of goods which these departments turned out
offered preferential terms to Co-operative societies — ^it was so
even with margarine when Bladnoch was opened — ^but it made
* For description of the interesting procession, see Appendix.
164 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
the Co-operators wonder why the same terms could not have been
given before. During that decade it fell to Mr Maxwell's lot,
half-year after half-year, to point to the balance-sheet with its
unbroken record of successes and increases, and to say, as he did
more than once from the presidential chair : Thus do the
Co-operators of Scotland answer their opponents.
XI.
THE SOCIETY CARRIES ITS FLAG OVERSEAS.
A NEW century's AUSPICIOUS OPENING — -DIRECTORS GIVE FULL-TIME
SERVICE- — BUSINESS EXPEDITIONS ABROAD LIMITATIONS ON FOREIGN
MISSIONS PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH
WHOLESALES THE TEA ENTERPRISE INITIATED- — -SUCCESS IN A
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE TRADE A BOLD VENTURE IN CANADA
PROPOSED THE PIONEER STEPS IN THE GOLDEN WEST — AN OLD
STALWART JOINS THE MAJORITY.
In the opening decade of the new century the Wholesale Society
made strides which improved the position of Co-operation in
Scotland enormously. The directors were in an excellent
position to face bigger developments than had hitherto been
attempted. In the first place, capital had been growing steadily,
and at the end of 1900 it amounted to more than a million and
a half, of which a quarter of a million represented shares that
were transferable and not withdrawable owing to the decision
of 1894 to increase the value of the share from fifteen shillings
to twenty shillings — the figure at which it still remains.
Delegates at quarterly meetings, and delegates at Co-operative
conferences, were frequently complaining that the capital ought
to be utilised to a greater extent in Co-operative productive
enterprises, and while the official view of the board was that
the surplus capital which was being lent to municipal and other
local authorities for social purposes was lent on remunerative
terms, it was a point that was frequently and legitimately
disputed ; and the directors themselves agreed that the money
would be better utilised if invested in Co-operative undertakings.
An important change in the management of the Society had
been effected. We have already mentioned the trifling rates
of remuneration given to the directors, in the early days of the
Wholesale, for their services to the Society and to the movement.
Although the question of the duties and emoluments of the
directors formed the text of a remit to more than one special
166 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
committee, the shareholders dedined, steadily, to display any
lavish generosity upon them, and till 1899 their remunefation
was paltry considering their responsibilities and the calls made
upon them to leave their ordinary employment in order, to
attend to the business of the Society. In 1899 they were allowed
a retaining fee of £20 per annum, with a special fee of 10/6 per
full day spent on the Society's business and 5/3 per half-day.
In the case of the secretary, the retaining fee was £30 instead
of ^20 ; and the president's retaining fee was £40. Despite
these miserable rewards, it must be confessed that the directors
threw themselves into the work of the Wholesale Society with
amazing fideUty and zeal. These conditions, however, hampered
the Society. When all was said and done, it was the directors
who were responsible to the members for the success of the
business ; it was they who had to weather the storm at the
shareholders' meeting if a society had a complaint to make or
if a department showed a loss. The directors could not Uve
upon these emoluments ; and whUe that was the case it was
necessary for them to devote some time to their own
occupations ; and it was at length recognised that it was quite
possible that they might have to be so occupied when the
Wholesale's interest had urgent need of their attention. In
1899, therefore, the shareholders made a change. They put
the directors upon a footing which gave the Society the first
caU upon their services ; and it was decided that the president
should be paid at the rate of £300 per annum, that the secretary
should receive £250, and that the salaries of the other members
of the board should be £200 each. Even at that the total
expenditure of £2,550 on the salaries of directors responsible
for the conduct of a business with over 5,000 employees and
doing an annual trade exceeding five miUions was not on the
side of extravagance. The explanation of the figure fixed,
however, is not far to seek. It is given almost every time it
is proposed to increase the salaries of the directors. In 1899
the bulk of the members of the Co-operative societies would
probably have wages ranging between 20/ and 30/ per week,
and they seemed to think £200 a year a sufficient return for
a fellow-workman who had escaped from the bench or the
workshop to the boardroom. The important fact, however,
was that the directors were by that decision made full-time
THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 167
employees of the Wholesale. That had a stimulating effect
upon the board, and there were early evidences of the advantage
to the Wholesale.
There were, naturally, ordinary developments upon a small
scale. The erection of another aerated water factory — the third
— at Stirhng, in 1901, was one of the first of these. The shirt
factory, the significance of which we have already referred to,
had grown, and the production of dress shirts, which was carried
on in a factory in Leith, erected upon part of the site bought
when Junction Mill was erected, was another. The chief
development, however, was that which led to the planting of
the Wholesale's flag overseas. To deal with this development
it is necessary for us to turn back a little. We have already
told how Mr Maxwell in 1884 made a visit to America in
company with directors of the English Wholesale Society,
The result of that expedition, for which Mr Maxwell acted as
secretary, was the establishment of trading relations which
enabled the Wholesale Society to supply its members with all
classes of flour that they required. The expenses of the
mission were met out of a fund established by the two
Wholesale Societies and known as the American reserve fund.
All were delighted to see Mr Maxwell back when he appeared
in the chair in June 1884 ; but, at a subsequent meeting of
the shareholders, when the expenses appeared in the balance-
sheet there was a good deal of discussion — as there has
frequently been since, when such deputations were being
reviewed. The bill on that occasion had to be paid, and the
upshot of the discussions was that a resolution was finally
passed prohibiting the board from expending more than £20
upon any mission of this kind without first obtaining the
approval of the quarterly meeting. This was intended as
simply a discretionary resolution calculated to prevent un-
necessary profligacy ; but it had the undesirable effect of
holding back the directors when occasion arose later for missions
of a similar character. The C.W.S. had established its Rouen
depot in 1879. A depot had been established at Copenhagen
in 1881, and another at New York in 1886. In all of these the
S.C.W.S. had a friendly interest, and goods were bought by
them for the two Wholesale Societies, the S.C.W.S. paying a
small commission to the sister federation. A depot had also
168 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
been opened in Hamburg in 1884. The decision of the Scottish
Wholesale meeting prevented the directors from taking part in
a deputation which the English Wholesale Society found it
necessary to send to the Orient to make arrangements for an
extensive trade in dried fruits — currants, raisins, etc. The
organisation of the dried fruit trade had been discussed by
buyers and directors, and Mr Maxwell was an eager advocate
of steps being taken to enable the Wholesale buyers to get right
to the source of supply in view of the fact that a great many
obstacles were being put in their way. Later, when a similar
mission was despatched to Spain to organise fruit supplies,
the S.C.W.S. were not able to send a representative in company
with the C.W.S. directors because of this resolution which
stood in the books, and because the time for making the visit
would have passed before the next quarterly meeting took
place. In 1894 Mr Maxwell paid another visit to the United
States and Canada, when a joint agent for the two Wholesales
was estabhshed at Montreal. Mr Adams, a director of the
Wholesale in 1896, had gone on an expedition to the Continent,
in connection with the enamelled ware' trade, with Mr MiUer
of the furnishing department. The following year Mr Daniel
Thomson, one of the directors, was on an expedition to
America, particularly in connection with tinned foods and with
the object of enquiring whether it would be possible for the
two Wholesale Societies to establish a fish canning centre on
the Columbia river. It was not deemed advisable at that time
to take such a step, but the deputation which represented the
two Wholesale Societies recommended the appointment of a
responsible agent whose duty it would be to inspect the fish
bought for the Wholesale Societies in order to ensure that the
finest qualities only would be sent. In 1889 Mr Isaac M'Donald
was one of a joint deputation to Denmark and other Continental
depots. Frequent deputations were also sent to America in
connection with supplies of raw material for the boot factory ;
to Scandinavia, where enormous supplies of paper, straw boards,
and other material required in printing and bagmaking depart-
ments were purchased; deputations to France in connection
with millinery goods ; to Germany in connection with a variety
of products with regard to which the directors deemed it
essential to satisfy themselves as to trade union conditions.
THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 16»
wages, and the character of the estabhshments in which the
goods they were buying were being produced. In short, every
productive centre, whether agricultural or industrial, was
visited and explored in the interests of the Co-operators of
Scotland. In all these missions there was no step taken which
could be regarded as a productive enterprise. Generally it
meant the opening up of trading relations with those who
conducted their business in a fashion which commended itself
to the Co-operative conscience. At most it meant the opening
of a depot, or the appointment of an of&cial representative or
agent.
Up till the beginning of the decade with which this chapter
deals particularly, the business relations between the two
Wholesale Societies had been based upon an entente cordials
rather than upon an alliance — to use the phraseology of the war
period — and in order that their business relations might be
put upon a more regular basis a legal partnership between the
two Wholesale Societies was drawn up, signed, and sealed in
December 1901. The partnership governed particularly the
tea business : the English Wholesale Society contributing
three-fourths of the capital and having three-fourths of the
representation in the tea committee, the Scottish Wholesale
Society contributing one-fourth of the capital and having one-
fourth of the representation in the management committee.
The ink of the deed of partnership was scarcely dry when the
Co-operative movement became the owner of tea estates in
Ceylon. It is well, however, that we should see exactly where
Co-operators stood in the tea trade when that enterprise was
launched, and Mr James Haslam, of the C.W.S. publicity
department, puts the matter before us in the following terse
account.
At the time the two federations of the movement decided to
invest capital in tea-growing land in the Far East, it might
have seemed a doubtful and speculative enterprise in which to
involve the hard-earned savings of the working-classes of the
United Kingdom. But it was a policy of foresight and courage
as well as of necessity. That, as will be seen from under-
mentioned dates, was in the early 'eighties, when Sociahsts with
their doctrine of the ownership and control of the means of
production, exchange, and distribution by the people, or the
170 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
State, were condemning the existing system of capital and
labour with its deplorable social inequalities. Whilst the
Socialists were condemning, however, the seers of Co-operation
were constructing on the principle of the collective use of capital.
This was, and stUl is, the most effective way towards economic
justice and social reconstruction. A Co-operative member
whose experience and knowledge of the world's commerce did
not, perhaps, extend beyond the Umits of the workshop, was
rather dubious about entrusting the savings of his fellows in
activities so far away from home. But it was the beginning
of a pohcy which was indispensable to the success of the future
trading of the movement, and if there is anything for
Co-operators to regret about it to-day, it is that it has not been
apphed more vigorously and comprehensively. The great
war-time circumstances, through which we have just passed,
have shown beyond all possible doubt that the most important
and essential factor in Co-operative trade and commerce is the
ownership of the sources of raw material.
The principle of joint ownership since then has rightly
spread to other operations ; and the necessity of drawing raw
materials for Co-operative manufacture and consumption has
been apphed in other parts of the world, including Canada,
the United States of America, British West Africa, as well as
in connection with industries at home. This tendency may
have to be enlarged and strengthened against the growing
forces of vested interests.
At the Derby Co-operative Congress in 1884, E. Vansittart
Neale, one of the best advocates of Co-operation in the history
of the movement, said : " Man is a spiritual being, and it is
impossible for him to be enthusiastic about the price of tea
and coffee." That, nevertheless, was an overstatement of the
case. The adversaries of the Co-operative movement, the
multiple shop companies, have proved this on more than one
occasion. At any rate, the people are interested in the price
of tea and coffee, and are none the less concerned about the
quality. Ideals and material necessities must be made to
blend, or, if kept apart, one or the other will topple over.
The initial joint considerations of the two Wholesale Societies
respecting tea take us first of aU to London. The tea trade
of the movement, by the movement, began in Hooper Square,
THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 171
off Leman Street, on ist November 1882. By March of 1883
it was recorded as a success, and this was further emphasised
in June of the same year. In the following month, a " P. & 0."
steamer arrived at London, the world's great tea mart, with
a large consignment of China tea for Co-operative societies.
This was an event which Co-operative speakers and writers of
the day heralded with considerable hope and enthusiasm. It
created a stir among the tea men of London. Perhaps they
saw in it more than less experienced Co-operators could perceive.
In those early days of Co-operative production and expansion,
the progress of the tea trade had the effect of bringing together,
for joint action, the S.C.W.S. and the C.W.S. It was owing
to the conditions then ruling this business, and the practices
and attitude of other dealers, that the first joint meeting was
convened, this taking place at Leicester on i8th May 1882.
Federation had been previously discussed and decided, and it
was in this year (1882) that the two Societies began to blend
tea and distribute it. For the last seven weeks of the year
the sales amounted to 288,579 l^^-
Advancement followed. The palatial tea premises in Leman
Street were opened on 2nd November 1887. The original
building of the joint tea department had been destroyed by
fire (in December of 1885), the damage being ^36,000, of which
^28,600 was recovered from insurance companies. For many
years there was an uphill fight with dealers and merchants who
gave prizes with tea, consisting of crockery, jewellery, furniture,
and aU kinds of ornaments attractive to the deluded purchasers.
Tea buying was the joke of the day in the 'eighties of the past
century in industrial towns where Co-operators were thickly
gathered together. In moments of hilarity it was assumed
that with a pound of two-shilling tea one could obtain a piano,
just as it was assumed, as previously mentioned, that similar
rewards would be bom of soap coupons. At any rate, it
became an exciting trade, and some of the commercial tea
houses advertised schemes by which buyers of tea could procure
old-age pensions.*
The working classes fell to such dodges, and the S.C.W.S.
* On one of these schemes the Law Courts in 1905 made a declaration
which may be regarded as the death sentence on similarly absurd and
reckless schemes. See Chapter XV.
172 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and the C.W.S. had to face the gigantic task of wooing back
the people to honest trading, although many societies had to
imitate the prize tea distributors in order to keep their members.
Eventually the cut-throat competition drove the joint
Co-operative tea committee to consider a wider policy. Hints
were thrown out that they should not only sell tea, blended in
their own warehouse, but that they should grow it. Propositions
to buy plantations in Ceylon were reintroduced in the early
'nineties. Motions to begin this enterprise were listened to
very dubiously for a long time, and usually collapsed for want
of courage and faith. A visit was made to India by a deputation
from the C.W.S. to inquire about the business of tea growing,
though nothing worth speaking of came of it. But the spirit
which had originally prompted the enterprise was unconquerable,
and the first tea estates were purchased in 1902, these being
known by the name of NugaweUa and Wehgango, consisting of
399 acares. The yield in the first year was 84,252 lbs. The
price of the estates was £9,820. The S. C.W.S. and the C.W.S.
were joint owners ; and it was the first industrial venture overseas
over which the S. C.W.S. flag floated.
The question of opening up a special connection in Canada
for the purpose of getting nearer the producer had been brought
before the annual joint meeting of the directors and buyers of the
S. C.W.S. more than once ; but, after a report had been received
from the S. C.W.S. representatives across the Atlantic, it was
deemed advisable that nothing further should be done for a time.
Conditions changed, however. The continued growth and
developments of the North-West of Canada as a wheat-
producing country, and the establishment of a grain market at
Winnipeg, altered the whole conditions of supply affecting a
particular quality of wheat of which the co-operators were large
consumers. By 1905 the Wholesale mills were grinding about
72,000 bushels of wheat per week. Of this amount 50,000
bushels could be Canadian ; but supplies were interfered with
by cornering speculators, who held up supplies for prices as
exorbitant as they could force people to pay. Another factor
which affected the price was the number of unnecessary agencies
through which transactions had to pass before the wheat finally
reached the Co-operative millers.
The grocery committee of the Wholesale raised the whole
THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 173
question again in 1905 at a meeting of the directors ; and the
result of the deUberations of the board was that Mr W. F. Stewart,
the commercial manager of the Wholesale mills, and Mr T. C.
M'Nab, one of the directors, were commissioned to proceed to
the United States and Canada to investigate and report on the
whole question of wheat supply on the spot, with a view to the
S.C.W.S. procuring supplies as direct as possible from the
producers, or even of becoming producers themselves. The
deputation sailed from Scotland in September 1905. They
visited Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, and Winnipeg,
interviewing railway officials, Government officials, emigration
agents, and land agents, and they made a scrupulous investiga-
tion of the whole of the conditions affecting the grain trade and
the land system. The deputation spent the whole of October
of that year making their inquiries on the spot, and on their
return submitted a report, in which a number of valuable
recommendations were made, nearly all of which have now been
given effect to, at least in part. The recommendations briefly
were embodied in the conclusion of their report, which read as
follows : — " Having traced the whole system of wheat handling,
from the farmer in Canada to the buyer at this side, we are firmly
convinced that the time has now come when we should open a
branch at Winnipeg. Other firms have found it advantageous
to do so, and we are further of the opinion that the proper
development of such a branch is the establishing of elevators,
so that the wheat can be brought direct from the grower ; and
we strongly recommend that the said branch should be
established before the next harvest. Should the recommenda-
tion to establish a branch at Winnipeg be adopted. New York
and Montreal branches would be utilised to secure the necessary
freight room in the regular steamers ; and, with the supplies of
wheat to take up same, a considerable saving would be effected
in present methods. Going further into the question of direct
supply, and after studying the land question in all its bearings, we
strongly urge that steps be taken without further delay to secure,
at least, 100,000 acres of land from the Saskatchewan Land Co. as
offered. We are thoroughly convinced that the adoption of these
recommendations would prove of immense benefit, not only to
the milling department of the S.C.W.S., but also as a safe and
profitable investment for the surplus capital of the movement."
174 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The report was considered for some time by the directors,
who remitted it to the finance committee. Correspondence
ensued between the board and the representatives of the Govern-
ment in Canada, and an option had actually been given on a piece
of land at a given price. It was a big venture to contemplate,
and meant locking up a considerable amount of money in an
investment so far away. In any case, before the directors had
made up their minds that the circumstances warranted the
expenditure, the time within which the land could be had for
the price offered had expired, and the opportunity was gone.
The delegates at several of the meetings criticised the directors
for having allowed the chance to shp, but the directors claimed
that their decision had prudence to commend it. While they
did not carry out the recommendation of the deputation with
regard to the purchase of the land, other recommendations made
by the deputation were given effect to almost at once. The first
step was the establishment of the proposed depot in Winnipeg,
in order to organise the supphes of wheat required in this country.
This was opened in August 1906. Mr George Fisher, who had
been for a long time assistant to Mr Stewart in the mills depart-
ment, was appointed to undertake the work there ; and Mr
Macintosh journeyed over to superintend personally the inaugura-
tion of the book-keeping system, and to complete the financial
arrangements — ^Mr John Stevenson, of Kilmarnock, one of the
oldest directors, accompanying him. The extensive purchase of
wheat throughout the Golden West, in such quantities as the
Wholesale Society required, necessitated a further step — the
provision of elevators in which the grain, when bought, could
be stored pending transport or shipment. The first of the
Society's elevators were erected in 1908. These have been
extensively added to since, and the Winnipeg depot, prior to
war breaking out, received 14^ miUion bushels of grain for ship-
ment to this country. The original elevators were planted
along the railway trunk lines, but the Society has gone a step
further, and there is presently in prospect the erection of huge
terminal elevators, from which the wheat may be shipped at the
ports. The Winnipeg venture has proved an enormous boon to
the Co-operators of Scotland, as will be shown in a later chapter.
Various other deputations went to Canada in connection with
the wheat trade, and in connection with also the tinned meat trade.
THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 175
the leather trade, and various other concerns in which the move-
ment was interested. But the question raised by Mr Stewart
and Mr M'Nab was raised again in a definite form in 1915 by a
deputation, which consisted of Mr W. F. Stewart again, Mr
Paisley, the manager of Chancelot Mill, and Mr W. R. Allan, a
member of the board, who recommended once more the purchase
of from 50,000 to 100,000 acres in Canada for wheat growing
purposes. This recommendation was discussed more vigorously
than that formerly arrived at by Mr Stewart, and, on this
occasion, the recommendation was received very much more
favourably. The whole question of wheat was now beginning
to agitate the directors of the English Wholesale Society also ;
and, before any final settlement was arrived at, it was arranged
that the whole question of wheat buying in Canada, and the
question of joint ownership of the S.C.W.S. depot at Winnipeg
and the C.W.S. depot at Montreal and New York might be
considered at the spot by a deputation representing the two
Wholesale boards. The Scottish Wholesale Society was repre-
sented on this commission by Messrs StirHng and Bardner.
After an extended visit to Canada and the States, they came
back more enthusiastic than the first deputation for the purchase
of land. When the joint deputation returned from the States
and Canada, the two boards agreed to defer, for further con-
sideration, the question of joint ownership of the Overseas
depots until more normal times arrived ; but it was mutually
agreed to purchase 10,000 acres of land known as the Wietzen
Farm, near Saskatoon, it being expressly stated in the joint
minute that this was to be " a first instalment of co-operatively
owned land in Canada." This step is recorded here a little in
anticipation of its proper period ; but it is not out of place,
because it is the partial fruition of the efforts of Mr Stewart and
Mr M'Nab, whose investigations led to the estabHshment of the
Winnipeg depot, and whose report gave rise to highly interesting
discussions throughout the movement with regard to the owner-
ship of the land. The purchase of the Weitzen Farm was
completed in December 1916.
Thus was the S.C.W.S. flag first carried overseas — ^first to
Ceylon and then to Canada. It floats now in Africa ; but that
is another story, which must do credit to its own decade in this
history.
176 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Reluctance to interrupt the record of the events which led
the Society overseas has compelled us to defer till this late part
of the chapter an event of more than passing importance. The
Society's second manager, Mr James Marshall, who had succeeded
Mr Borrowman when the Ironworks trouble was most acute,
retired in igo2 from the service which he entered in 1868 as
grocery buyer. He had been manager from 1874, and had filled
the responsible post for twenty-eight of the thirty-four years
he had been employed by the Wholesale Society. The occasion
of his retirement was marked by two appropriate acts. One was
the presentation to him of a purse of sovereigns and a handsome
€scritoire from his old friends and associates. The other was
the voting, by the Society, of a retiring allowance of £150 per
annum.
Many graceful tributes were paid to Mr Marshall at the two
meetings at which these evidences of esteem and appreciation
were given. At the quarterly meeting in May 1902, at which
the directors recommended the granting of the pension, Mr
Maxwell said it would be very difficult for him to tell the meeting
what a tower of strength Mr Marshall had been in the early
days of the Society. The pension was voted, although not
unanimously. It is only fair to put it on record, however, that
those who opposed the board's recommendation were not
actuated by a lack of appreciation of Mr Marshall's services,
for everyone was ready to acknowledge what the Wholesale
owed to his strength of character and to his conscientious
devotion of an able business mind to the great undertakings
with which the Society was concerned. The reluctance of the
few to grant the pension was due simply to a desire to have all
employees of the Society put on the same level. The directors
had no objection to that ; but Mr Marshall's resignation after
all those years of service, a step almost forced upon him by an
affection of the eyes, took place before any general scheme of
pensions was formulated. In any case, the decision in favour
of Mr Marshall was wholehearted, and those who hesitated to
vote for it for the reason stated included some of his sincerest
admirers. He was the second and last manager appointed by
the S.C.W.S. He lived in retirement till 1907, when he died at
his residence in Glasgow, on Saturday, 8th June. The flags at
the S.C.W.S. flew at half-mast on the following Tuesday, when
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THE SOCIETY'S FLAG OVERSEAS 177
the remains of the old veteran were laid to rest in the Craigton
Cemetery. The funeral was private ; but Mr Maxwell, Mr
Pearson, and Mr Stevenson represented the directors of the
Wholesale ; and Mr Marshall's fellow-employees were repre-
sented by Messrs R. Macintosh, E. Ross, A. Gray, W. Miller,
D. Gardiner, and W. F. Stewart, all of whom had worked with
him for many years ; and by Messrs A. Black and R. Gow, who
were intimately associated with him. It was a first great
breach in the family, so to speak, for Mr Marshall had been in
the service almost from the beginning. He took over the
managership when the Wholesale's trade for the year was no
more than £384,000 ; he laid down his command when its
annual sales exceeded £6,000,000. What thoughts he must
have had when he contemplated the progressive steps which
led to that change we can only leave to the imagination of the
reader. Those who assess the utiUty of the S.C.W.S. at its full
value, and who have gathered something from these pages of
the magnitude of the crisis from which James Marshall helped
to extricate it, will endorse the lines which concluded a farewell'
message written by Mr Miller, the manager of the furniture
department, when the old pilot left the ship : —
" When clouds appeared like darkest night.
Then steadfastness of thee was born."
XII.
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS.
THE SOCIETY ACQUIRES THE ARCHBISHOP'S MILL LIKEWISE SECURES AN
ESTATE AND CASTLE DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTENSIONS IN RAPID
PROGRESS — THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RETAIL BRANCHES THE STATUS
OF DIRECTORS CONSIDERED A PROPOSED SUPERANNUATION SCHEME
AND ITS FATE DRAPERY SALES REACH A MILLION IN THE YEAR
POWER GIVEN TO PURCHASE COALFIELDS- — DEATH CREATES FRESH
GAPS AND BRINGS NEW MEN MR MAXWELL'S SEMI-JUBILEE AND
HIS RETIREMENT — TWO MEMORABLE MEETINGS.
One development of considerable importance to societies was
the appointment, in 1903, of a cattle buyer in Ireland, to
secure cattle as nearly as possible at the source of supply. In
various other directions the supply of food was being attended
to by the Wholesale ; but, so far as the West of Scotland was
concerned, 1903 was chiefly memorable for the purchase of
Regent flour mill, on the banks of the Kelvin, within the city
of Glasgow. As we have already pointed out, the intention of
the directors was to estabUsh two large flour mills — one in the
East and one in the West ; but, after the opening of Chancelot
miUs, nine years had to elapse before the desires of the
Co-operators were gratified by the acquisition of the western
mill. Industry had not been at a standstill during these years.
The Chancelot mill opened with a plant to provide twenty-five
sacks, of 280 lbs. of flour each, per hour. The Junction mill
already mentioned, with a capacity of twelve sacks per hour,
was opened three years later. The Chancelot plant had been
increased to forty-two sacks per hour before the long-sought
opportunity arose in the West. The Regent flour mill was
acquired as a going concern, with miU, plant, warehouse, and
everything in working order. The mill was not openly exposed
for sale ; but the directors got to know that it could be bought,
and their inquiries were made so effectively and the negotiations
carried through so admirably that the whole transaction, when
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 179
completed, occasioned the greatest surprise to Glasgow citizens.
The mill occupies a historic site. A mill had stood there
for centiuries, and had been known as the Archbishop's mill ;
and the Archbishop's mill and the site were granted to the
Incorporation of Bakers of Glasgow in 1568 by the Regent
Moray, who was then in conflict with Mary Queen of Scots.
Mr James Ness, clerk to the Incorporation when the S.C.W.S.
purchased the miU, furnished an interesting statement regarding
its history. He briefly summarised a long story, and we
summarise his. The traditional story (he said) is that on the
camping of Regent Moray's troops at Langside prior to the
famous battle, the bakers of Glasgow, from motives no doubt
weighty, and, as events proved, judicious, made special
exertions to supply his troops with bread : that on his return
to the city after his victory, the gratitude of the "Good
Regent " showed itself by a grant of the Archbishop's mill on
the Kelvin, which had then become the property of the Crown,
together with a piece of ground adjoining. In all probability
the original grant was made to twenty-six persons, bakers in
Glasgow, in equal shares, each share being known as a " mill-
day," and the holder in his turn being entitled to a day's
grinding at the mill. The shares of mUl-days held by individuals
were by four separate Dispositions, all dated in the year 1667,
acquired by the Incorporation. In course of time the original
mill underwent much alteration and extension. Part of it
was rebuilt in 1818, and in 1828 the most extensive alteration
took place, when the eastern portion of the old walls was taken
down and rebuilt. In 1886 the mUl was burned down, when
the present structure was erected in its place. With the
possession of the mills at Partick, the Incorporation of Bakers
held the unique position of being the only incorporation carrying
on business as an incorporation. This character it maintained
tiU i6th August 1884, when it ceased to be — what it had been
for well-nigh three centuries and a half — a trading incorporation.
During the year 1883-4 there was a monetary loss of almost
£250 in connection with the revenues the Incorporation derived
from the mill. This was caused by the change which had now
become general in the method of manufacturing flour. Hitherto
wheat had been ground by miUstones, but the new system of
grinding by means of chilled iron rollers had been introduced
180 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
into nearly all the flour mills in the city and neighbourhood of
Glasgow, and it was seen that unless the Incorporation were
prepared to turn out the now antiquated millstones, and intro-
duce at great cost the new and more expensive system of
grinding by rollers, they must contemplate an annually
increasing loss in working the mill. They had also to consider
that very few of the members of the Incorporation were now
making any use of the mill, the practice having become general
for bakers to purchase the flour they used, rather than, as in
former times, to buy the wheat and have it ground at the mill.
In these altered circumstances the Incorporation, after much
consideration, resolved that they could not continue to risk
their fortunes in the exigencies of the trade, but would rather
let the mill, which they did in August 1884. When the mill
was accidently burned down in 1886, the Incorporation
determined that they would not build it again, but dispose of
the site, which was acquired by the then head of the firm, which,
in turn, sold it to the S.C.W.S. The foundation stone, laid in
1828, was recovered in 1886 from the debris of the fire, and the
contents of the bottles were replaced in the foundation stone
of the present miU when it was erected by the late owners.
The formal opening of the mill as S.C.W.S. property took place
in 1904, the ceremony being performed by Mr Isaac M'Donald,
and the celebrations being no less memorable than those which
marked the inauguration of other great Wholesale estabhshments.
The possession of the mUl added 3,500 sacks per week to the
Society's productive capacity, making a total miUing capacity
of 10,500 sacks per week. What the output is now will be seen
in the article relating to the mUls in the pages of the Descriptive
Section.
In May of 1904 the Wholesale completed the purchase of
the Calderwood Estate as a step towards agricultural develop-
ments. A few years before authority had been given to the
directors to purchase two estates, one in Ireland and one in
Scotland, chiefly for fruit growing purposes ; but the Irish
scheme was dropped. The Calderwood Estate was one of many
offered ; but the S.C.W.S., like a municipal corporation, had
the reputation of being a wealthy body and eager for land,
and the greatest tact had to be exercised in conducting
negotiations with regard to purchases of this kind. On more
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 181
than one occasion, when authority had been given to purchase
property or land for the erection of factories, difficulties were
put in the way of the directors by those who felt tempted to
advance prices and by those interested in keeping down the
productive enterprises of the Wholesale. It was one of the
penalties the Wholesale had to pay for its democratic provision
which made it necessary for the directors to seek the approval
of a quarterly meeting before committing the Society to any
large responsibiHty. Eventually the estate, probably one of
the most picturesque in the Scottish Lowlands, fell into the
possession of the S.C.W.S. For five centuries the estate had
been the seat of the Maxwells of Calderwood, the first head of
which family was the second son of the fourth Baronet of PoUok,
who, in turn, was the descendant of the first Maxwells who
settled in Drumlanrig where, we understand, they came as
EngUsh refugees from the Norman invasion. There was a
sentimental interest attaching to the acquisition of the estate
by the Wholesale Society in view of the president's nomenclature ;
but there was a good deal of enthusiasm apart from that because
of the possibilities in the direction of agricultural and
horticultural pursuits. The estate comprised eight farms,
besides the old baronial mansion-house, the romantic glen and
countless beauty spots, and it covered an area of 1,125 acres,
for which the Wholesale Society paid over £36,000. The estate,
besides its agricultural possibilities, was described as being rich
in coal, ironstone, limestone, sandstone, and whinstone. A
grand outing, attended by about 700 delegates, took place in
July 1904 for the twofold purpose of taking formal possession
of the estate and of letting the representatives of the share-
holders view the place they could then regard as their own.
The future use of the mansion-house — the Castle, to give it
its proper designation — gave rise to a crop of proposals.
Some suggested that it might be used for a convalescent
home, others wanted it to be set aside for a residence for
the use of the beneficiaries of the Co-operative Veterans Associa-
tion ; it was even proposed to make it an official residence
for the president — though the president had no sympathy
with that. It was decided to convert it into a Co-operative
museum, and an attempt was made to stock it with objects
of interest ; but it was unsuitable for even that purpose owing
182 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
to tte distance from Co-operative centres, and the exhibits
were all removed. There was also considerable discussion
regarding the utilisation of the estate itself and the problem of
making it pay. Parts of the estate — notably the glen — ^were
obviously suitable for nothing but pleasure grounds, and the
Society decided to allow visitors to enjoy the pleasures
provided that permission was first obtained from the head
office ; and the result was that for some years large parties
visited the place during the summer months ; societies and
Co-operative guilds and employees' associations organised
excursions there, and this privilege was also taken advantage
of by literary societies, friendly societies, Simday schools, and
other similar bodies, fifteen hundred being no unusual number
of trippers on a summer Saturday. The financial arrangements
presented some difficulties. The directors, with the approval
of the societies, wrote down by special depreciation the value
of the pleasure grounds and so removed a burden of interest.
Even then the experiment was costly. Money was spent in
boring for coal ; crops were not always profitable ; and year
after year the delegates had> occasion to discuss the " losses
at Calderwood." Before the balance began to appear on the
right side of the accounts, the Society had lost almost as much
as it had paid for the estate ; but it must be added that these
" losses " were arrived at after the Society had depreciated
annually in accordance with the rules and had charged against
the accounts the usual interest on the capital employed.
These " losses " ceased when the present manager, Mr G. G.
Young, was appointed.
An important site in Park Street, Kinning Park, was secured
in 1904 for the provision of buildings to relieve congestion
elsewhere. There are now established the ham-curing depart-
ment and sausage factory, and several other departments aUied
to the central warehouses. The Chappelfield laundry at Barrhead
was leased in the same year as an auxiliary to the dress shirt
factory. This was given up four years later, when the PotterhUl
laundry at Paisley was secured to serve the same purpose.
Barrhead Co-operators deprecated the transfer of the laundry..;.
Paisley Co-operators welcomed the establishment of a Wholesale
department in the town, and the two parties made a battle royal
over the question. The delegates endorsed the recommendation
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 183
of the directors to make the transfer, and it was made. It
anticipates the contents of the next chapter, but it may as well
be stated here as there that the laundry premises were much too
large for their purpose, but the directors knew that and had in
their minds the possibility of utilising the space for some other
enterprise. In 1912 they had the superfluous part of the building
equipped with modern plant, and transferred to Paisley the
whole of the dress shirt manufacture — a step which dispensed
with the transport of the dress shirts from the Leith factory to
the Paisley laundry before sale. An auxiliary to the drapery
department was opened in London in 1905, so that the Wholesale
would be directly kept in touch with the latest movement in the
drapery, dress, and miUinery trade. Shows of millinery and
kindred goods are now held there regularly, and representatives
of the Scottish societies who go there are enabled to examine
the latest creations as soon as they arrive in London. It is
perhaps eloquent of the temperate character of Co-operators
that yet another mineral water factory was started in 1906, that
of DunfermUne, and only two years later another was secured
at Kirkcaldy. In the meantime the Society was purchasing all
the ground it could acquire in the neighbourhood of the central
premises. A site at the corner of Paterson Street and Morrison
Street, which adjoined the drapery warehouse, was purchased
in 1907, and made it possible to bring the drapery warehouse
to a Morrison Street frontage a few years later. In Ireland ground
was secured in 1908 for the estabhshment of piggeries, which
have since done well. The lease of Camtyne farm, secured
in 1 90 1 for the convenience of the cattle department, was also
renewed in 1908, which proved to be a memorable year in several
ways. It witnessed big extensions of the Paterson Street
clothing and shirt factories. The Paterson Street addition to
the drapery warehouse was completed, the first of the Canadian
wheat elevators were erected, and Minto House, in Chambers
Street, Edinburgh, was purchased for an addition to the furniture
branch warehouse. It witnessed another development, also, in
the opening of the Society's first retail branch.
This £vent was the outcome of a paper read at a special
Sectional conference in Edinburgh by Mr James Deans. The
story is told of Mr Deans that one evening he was met by a
Kilmarnock friend, hurrying away from home. His friend asked
184 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
him where he was going, and he replied that he was going to a
Co-operative meeting to see if it would be possible to get money
to start a Co-operative Convalescent Home. The friend
ridiculed the idea, and remarked : " Ye've aye got a bee in your
bunnet." A lot of those bees have produced honey enough to
justify their existence, and a fairly lengthy list might be drawn
up of Co-operative schemes now in operation which had their
origin under the Kilmarnock " bunnet." Mr Deans had been
long enough propagating Co-operation to know the difficulties
in the way of establishing Co-operative societies in some quarters.
He also knew, from personal experience, how virulent the traders
could be at times, and how severely they could make their
methods bear not upon the Co-operative movement, but — as
we have already shown — upon individual Co-operators. His
experience, and the experience of John Barrowman and James
Wilson, who had acted as propagandists in their time, made it
clear that in some places it was possible to get people to join a
society, and purchase their goods from it if a society was formed,
while it was extremely difficult to get them to take any prominent
part in establishing a society — their jobs were at stake in many
places if they did that. Mr Deans's proposition was that the
S.CW.S. should take premises where no Co-operative society
existed (or no branch of a Co-operative society), equip and stock
the premises as a Co-operative store, invite people to give their
trade and to allow their dividends to accumulate until they could
take over the whole premises, staff, and stock as a going business.
This was discussed at the special conference in January 1907 —
Mr J. C. Gray, the late general secretary of the Co-operative
Union, read a paper on " International Co-operation " at the
same conference. The subject was discussed at several district
conferences, and finally notice of motion was given at a quarterly
meeting for a special meeting to be held to alter the rules to
permit of the S.CW.S. entering into retail business. The rules
were eventually altered, and the first retail branch was established
in Elgin. It was not the happiest choice, for a Co-operative
society had formerly existed there, and the absence of success
from its operations prevented enthusiasm rising. The whole
subject of retail branches, however, falls to be dealt with later.
There are other incidents worthy of special note in this period.
Old age was creeping upon some of the directors. It was true
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 185
theywere selected for periods of two years, and the delegates at
the quarterly meetings had the power to replace them if they
chose. Co-operation took a kindlier view of its obligations, how-
ever, and hesitated to discard its old servants callously — as was.
seen in the case of the old manager. It is not suggested that the
efficiency of the directorate suffered from the age of its members,
but it was borne in upon the delegates that they should be
prepared for a contingency that might arise in a very few years.
The subject was raised in concrete form at the Scottish National
Co-operative Conference in 1906 by Mr James Campsie, M.A.,
of Kinning Park Society, who had been pressing it at local
meetings for some time. The result of the agitation was that
a special committee was appointed at the end of 1906 by the
quarterly meeting to enquire into the whole question of the
duties, constitution, and emoluments of the directors.
The committee consisted of nine members representing the
delegates and three representing the directors, and their first
business was to resolve themselves into three sub-committees.
These interviewed the respective sub-committees of the Society,
saw the routine of the business, held interviews with the
managers and heads of departments, went round on visitations,
and had a free hand generally in conducting their inquiries.
It was considered most reassuring and satisfactory to find each
of these sub-committees reporting that each section of the
directorate had adequate supervision of the work entrusted to
it, and that, so far as administration was concerned, they could
make no recommendation which, in their opinion, would lead to
greater efficiency. The findings of these three sub-committees
completed the first stage of the inquiry entrusted to the special
committee — namely, the duties of the committee of the society.
Three other points did the special committee consider in the
course of the investigation — the method of electing the board
of the Wholesale, its constitution, and emoluments, and mode
of retirement. Under each of these it made important recom-
mendations. As to the constitution of the board, it recommended
that a director should not hold any other office of profit in the
movement outside of his own distributive society, though there
was a proviso that the present directors be allowed to complete
such appointments as they then held. It recommended that
" the person who acts as secretary to the board be not a member
186 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of the board," this being an endorsement of a position assumed
by the directors themselves some time before, and over which
there was a good deal of criticism.
The last points considered by the special committee were the
emoluments and mode of retirement of the members of the
directorate, and these they approached in the same level-headed
manner which was the leading characteristic of their work from
the commencement. It was an open secret, of course, that the
committee would consider the question of superannuation in
the course of their deliberations, even though some of the
members composing it were opposed to the principle of anything
savouring of old-age pensions unless coming direct from the
State. The committee, however, were unanimous in recom-
mending that a contributory scheme of retiring allowance should
be adopted for the directors on reaching the age of sixty-five.
They proposed that a scale be gradfed in proportion to length of
service. Thus, for ten years' and up to fifteen years' aggregate
j^ervice, £ioo per annum ; from fifteen to twenty years, £125
per annum ; and twenty years and over, £150 per annum, the
latter being the maximum. Provision was made for the money
contributed being paid over, with interest, to relatives, in the
event of death, or to the director should he cease to be a member
of the board for any reason whatever. It proposed that the
salary of each member of the board, " with the exception of the
present chairman," should be 1^275, 5 per cent, of which, £13, 15s.,
\ypuld;be contributed to the superannuation fund each year.
The report was considered at a special Wholesale meeting
on 19th October 1907 — the largest meeting of delegates held
in the Clarence Street Hall, up till then, fuUy 900 being present.
An attempt was made to have the number of directors increased
to fifteen ; but it failed. The meeting adopted the recom-
mendation of the special committee that, in future, elections
for directors should be by voting papers, instead of by a show
of hands at a quarterly meeting, and that canvassing by or on
behalf of a candidate should be prohibited. Other points in
the report were discussed, but the delegates decided that there
should be no divergence from the beaten track ; no super-
annuation; no increased salaries, no compulsory retirement
lor the directors. To fill the measure to the brim, they not
only refused to add to, but actually took away from the
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 187
emoluments of the unhappy members of the board, by
decreeing that none of them should hold any office of profit in
any other Co-operative concern outside their own distributive
societies. The great central point for discussion was, of course,
the proposed contributory scheme of retiring allowance for the
directors who had reached the age of sixty-five. Most
disputants entirely overlooked the fact that the scheme proposed
would in time become self-supporting, and could not in any
sense be regarded as a burden in perpetuity. The delegates
were shackled by instructions from their societies, and all the
arguments in the world could not have altered the cut-and-dried
decision that there should be no superannuation.
There was one incident of 1908 which marked a remarkable
achievement — or which celebrated an achievement of 1907.
In the Argyle Arcade Cafe on loth January there was a large
and jovial company assembled to commemorate the fact that
the drapery department during the preceding twelve months
had had a turnover exceeding £1,000,000. Mr David Gardiner
was presented with an illuminated address, and tributes to
his excellent managership were paid by Mr Glasse (who presided),
Mr Little, Mr Young, Mr Pearson, Mr Allan, his own directors ;
Mr D. M'Innes, of the English Wholesale Society's board ;
Mr Gibson and Mr Boothroyd, of the C.W.S. drapery department ;
Mr Macintosh ; and Mr M'Gilchrist (one of Mr Gardiner's
assistants). One of the speakers was Mr Larke, of Glasgow,
the gentleman who was first to supply goods to the drapery
department. The address, which was presented by Mr George
Davidson, the first male assistant engaged by Mr Gardiner when
the drapery department was formed, was signed on behalf of the
subscribing directors and employees by Peter Glasse (director).
Daniel Thomson (director), Thomas Little (director), James Young
(director), William Allan, J. M'Gilchrist, and George Davidson.
In congratulating Mr Gardiner on the success of the department
under his management, the address bore that : — " The enormous
expansion of the business during that period is brought out in
a striking manner by a comparison of the sales for 1876 (the
first year in which a separate account was kept of drapery
sales) with the current year. The former amounted to
£49,952, OS. lod., while the latter will exceed £1,000,000. We
feel sure that this enormous success is largely due, not only to
188 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION JN SCOTLAND
your great administrative skill and technical ability, but also'
to your indefatigable zeal and the perseverance and courage
you have always shown in overcoming difficulties." The
subscribers presented to Mrs Gardiner a beautiful necklet and
pendant, this presentation being made by Mr Carlaw, another
old employee of the department. Mr Gardiner, in his reply,
disclaimed personal credit, and attributed the success of his
efforts to the help and encouragement he had received from
the officials of the Society, his assistants in the department, the
directors, and the managers and buyers employed by the retail
societies. It was a memorable gathering ; but while it had
taken thirty-five years to reach the first miUion in the
department, in ten years more the sales had reached three
mUhons.
One of the most important decisions arrived at by the
S.C.W.S. in 1908 was that which gave the directors power " to
purchase, lease, or acquire fields of coal, hme, fireclay, and
other minerals," and to sink necessary pits, the total cost not
to exceed £100,000. It was not the first time the question had
been raised, but it had got down to what appeared to be
practical politics. The chief difference of opinion among the
delegates was that some thought it practical poHtics for the
Wholesale and others thought it practical pohtics for the
Government. The chairman at the meeting — ^held in March in
Glasgow — explained the position fully. The Society's sales in
coal for the preceding year were 264,747 tons, drawn from
131 pits. " Taking two typical pits in Ayrshire," he said, " we
have got as high as 178 tons per day from one pit and an
average of 58J tons per day. We could have taken 286 tons
per day from that pit if we could have got it. A pit yielding
200 tons per day would only be a drop in the bucket." The
power sought was granted ; but the president warned the
delegates that the directors had no particular pit in mind, and
that they might not even buy during the next half-year, but
they wanted to be armed with the necessary powers if the
opportunity presented itself. Those who wished to see the
S.C.W.S. owning and controlling a coal mine have not yet
reached the realisation of their hopes.
There are some melancholy changes to be recorded before
this chapter closes. Death had spared the board from 1899,
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 189
when Mr J. Adams died, till 1907, when the first break occurred
in what was termed the full-time directorate. The first to
pass away was the veteran secretary, Mr Andrew Miller. Mr
Miller had honoured the office with which the Wholesale Society
had honoured him for thirty-three years. He had been a short
time on the board when his predecessor, Mr Allan Gray, was
appointed cashier, and during all those years Mr Miller had
worked zealously for the movement, and he had earned the
respect of all his fellow co-operators. He had been one of the
enthusiasts among the directors for Co-operative production,
and at one quarterly meeting he had some caustic remarks to
make about those who talked about going into production and
yet voted against increasing the value of the S.C.W.S. shares.
For twenty years he served on the board of the Co-operative
Insurance Society. He was a persona grata with Co-operators
on both sides of the Border, and among intimate friends he
was known for his extremely genial nature. A Conservative
in politics, he was, nevertheless, always on the side of progressive
movements in the Co-operative sphere ; and, while he made
no pretensions to oratory, he could be relied upon to contribute
very usefully to organisation when work was in progress. In
TiUicoultry he had a wide circle of friends, and for a number of
years he was a member of the Town Council and bore the dignity
of a bailie of the town. A fine type of vigorous manhood he
was in his earlier days. A serious accident when on Wholesale
business disfigured his handsome features slightly some years
before his death ; but, till the last day he was at his post in
Morrison Street, his commanding figure attracted attention. For
some months he had been confined to his room with a serious
illness, and on loth March 1907 he passed quietly away. His
funeral was a pubUc event in Tillicoultry, and we weU recollect
the solemn cortege which, led by the poUce and civic dignitaries,
and joined in by representative. Co-operators from EngUsh and
Scottish Co-operative societies and federations — ^including the
general secretary of the Co-operative Union — accompanied his
dust to- its last resting-place.
Mr Miller's seat on the board was filled by the election of
Mr WilUam R. Allan, secretary of the Dundee Coal Society and
secretary of the Forfar, Perth, and Aberdeen Conference
Association, who had already done useful work as a propa-
190 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
gandist in the North of Scotland. The office of secretary,
which the delegates had previously decided must be held by
a member of the board, was fiUed by Mr John Pearson.
Before four months had passed another member of the
board was laid to rest at Leith. This was Mr T. C. M'Nab,
who had been a member of the directorate from 1889 — seventeen
years. Mr M'Nab was a delegate to the Preston Congress, and
we recollect the murmurs of surprise and regret that went
round the hall when, on the second day of the Congress, the
president — Mr WiUiam Lander — announced that Mr M'Nab
had been seized with a sudden illness on the previous evening
at Blackpool where he was residing. A few days later he was
conveyed home to Leith, where he lingered for a few weeks
and passed away on loth July. A large concourse of mourners
stood around the grave when his remains were lowered to their
last resting - place, the company including representative
Co-operators besides the provost and baiUes of Leith, who wore
their magisterial robes and insignia. Mr M'Nab had been a
member of Leith Parish Council and School Board, and had
also been a member of the Town Council and a baiUe. As we
have already pointed out, he accompanied the manager of the
S.C.W.S. mills — also a Leith bailie — to Canada, and had
recommended the purchase of wheat growing land there. He
had done much useful work for the movement ; had figured
largely as an orator and as a reader of papers at conferences ;
and his usefulness in the board-room and committee-room was
acknowledged by all his colleagues.
Mr M'Nab's successor on the directorate was Councillor
James Young, of Musselburgh, a man of considerable zeal and
activity, who had had a varied experience, and who had been
closely identified with Co-operative work in the East of Scotland
Another change took place early in 1908. Mr Daniel
Thomson, who had been laid aside with sickness for severstl
months, intimated his resignation in a letter dated 22nd
January 1908. On 14th February he passed away at his home
in Dunfermline, full of years' and honour, to the infinite regret
of all adniiring an honest, conscientious man who, throughout
a long tale of years, laboured assiduously in various causes having
for their object the betterment of his fellows.
Mr Thomson was one of the patriarchs of the movement.
A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 191
Possessed of a temperament placid and serene, though he was in
his seventy-sixth year, his mind was perennially young and
receptive of new impressions. He had an intimate knowledge
of modem art and its technique. It was not till afterwards we
learned that, as a water-colourist himself, he could speak as one
having authority. No one could wish for a more delightful
companion than Mr Daniel Thomson. Widely read, and of a
well-cultivated mind, his quiet, shrewd comments on men and
things were peculiarly characteristic. A student always, he was
more a writer than a speaker where numbers were concerned,
his being of that philosophic turn of mind incUned to think that
much that is said at times by word of mouth might quite well
without expression be allowed to go as understood. Himself an
author, no man was more fully aUve to the important value of
books, and it was only in the fitness of things that he acted as
librarian of the small but well-chosen collection at the disposal
of the board of directors in Morrison Street. He was laid to rest
in the " Auld Grey Toon " ; his remains being borne, on their
way to their last abode, past the historic old Abbey, with every
nook of which he was familiar. \
Another Dunfermline man was chosen to fill his place, the
choice faUing upon Mr James Wilson, who had been a propa-
gandist for the S.C.W.S. and the Co-operative Union.
Mr Maxwell had gone through the travail of a Parliamentary
election in 1900 — a khaki election, when anybody with rational
ideas, or with a social poUcy of domestic reform to propose, had
not much chance of being elected. Mr Maxwell, who was held
high in the esteem of Lord Rosebery, and had been invited by
Lord Rosebery to Dalmeny in 1892 to meet Mr Gladstone, with
whom he spent the better part of a whole day, was pressed to
stand for Clackmannan, the most Co-operative county in
Scotland ; but he ultimately decided to fight in the Tradeston
Division of Glasgow, in which the S.C.W.S. headquarters were
established. It would have been singularly appropriate if the
constituency had been represented by the head of the great
society whose premises alone adorned Tradeston. Mr Maxwell
entered the hsts as a Liberal candidate eight days before the poll,
and, in company with many other good Liberals and Labour
men, he went down. The lightning campaign was probably too
much for him at his years. The development of the business of
192 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
the Wholesale, and the wonderful extension of its operations,
were beginning to tax his energy, and his resignation of the
presidency of the Wholesale was contemplated. His many
friends in the movement pressed him to continue his services,
and he agreed to do so. The appreciation with which his services
were measured by the Co-operators of Scotland was demonstrated
in 1905, when he completed twenty-five years' service on the
board of the Wholesale Society. The gathering to commemorate
the event was held in Clarence Street Hall, Glasgow, on 23rd
December 1905, and was one of the most delightful social
gatherings held under Wholesale auspices. Mr Duncan
M'CuUoch, the ex-president of the United Co-operative Baking
Society, presided over a gathering which filled the hall, those
present being representative of the whole country. Mr Miller,
the secretary of the Wholesale, and Mr Maxwell's oldest colleague
on the board, was the spokesman for the societies that had
subscribed to the testimonial presented. In speeches appropriate
to the toasts of the evening, the good wishes of Mr Maxwell's
fellow-Co-operators were eloquently voiced by old friends like
John Allan, James Deans, Daniel Thomson, David Rowat of
Paisley, and John Clark of Perth. Mr Hewitt represented Mr
Maxwell's colleagues on the board of the Co-operative Newspaper
Society, and so brought greetings from across the Border. The
sincerity of the wishes expressed was evidenced by the handsome
gifts presented as souvenirs of the occasion, these comprising
a cheque for £500 for Mr Maxwell, and a beautiful piano, music
stool, and silver rose-bowl for Mrs Maxwell.
Some moments Ughtly spent may give rise to emotions which
leave a lasting influence. Such moments arose that afternoon.
Miss Margot Beatson, who contributed to the musical pro-
gramme, came on immediately following the presentation.
She sang "D'ye Mind Lang Syne ? " There had been references
to the pioneers, to Mr Maxwell's work, to the faith and practice
of the old Co-operators who had built up the movement. Her
simple song seemed appropriate. She sang the verse :
" Where are they noo — ^the hearts so leal and true ?
Some ha'e crossed life's troubled stream and some are strugglin'
through ;
But some ha'e risen high in life's fitful destiny,
For they rase wi' the lark in the momin'."
And as she sang that last Une the singer turned on her feet and
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A CHAPTER OF MEMORABLE EVENTS 193
looked at the honoured guest of the evening. It was the most
eloquent tribute of the evening ; the audience saw its application
at once, and the last notes of the line were drowned in the thunder
of applause. There were some in that audience moved by these
words and their appropriateness, and the lesson remained with
them.
Mr Maxwell, in his speech, had indicated that the time had
come when he and the Wholesale delegates must say good-bye.
It was taken by way of announcing that he would not again
accept nomination for the presidency when his time expired a
few months later. There was no physical reason then why he
should retire. His health was good — marvellous for his age.
Before the time came for his renomination, he was again pressed
to take no step that would lead to a severance of his connection
with the Wholesale, and once more he was elected unanimously.
It was his last term, however. In 1908 he decided to relinquish
his post, and the announcement was received with regret. He
was debarred by the decision at the special meeting, regarding
the position of directors, from holding any "office of profit'"
in any other society ; but any such office as he held had not to
be vacated till the end of his term. So in 1908, when his term
of office on the directorate of the Co-operative Newspaper Society
expired, he was still president of the S.C.W.S., and had to retire
from the Newspaper board — an event that was marked by the
presentation of an illuminated address and an album containing
portraits of his feUow-directors, the editor, and the manager.
For the presidency of the S.C.W.S. there were nominated Mr
D. H. Gerrard, the president of the United Co-operative Baking
Society ; and Messrs Peter Glasse, Thomas Little, Henry
Murphy, and Robert Stewart, all of whom were members of the
S.C.W.S. board. Mr Gerrard intimated a desire to withdraw
after the nominations had been announced ; and, eventually,
Mr Stewart was successful in the ballot. Mr Maxwell was
entertained at dinner in the Clarence Street Hall a few days
before the next quarterly meeting, and was presented with gifts
indicative of the esteem and good wishes of the directors and
the heads of departments. Shortly afterwards he was presented
with a handsome secretaire and bookcase by the employees at
Shieldhall — that monument of his " long view " of the work of
the Wholesale — ^in recognition of his special interest in the
194 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
employees as a whole, to which reference is made in a later section
of this volume.
He presided over a quarterly meeting for the last time in
September 1908. The delegates, not unmindful of his great
services, voted him a parting gift pi two years' salary — ^£700.
It was not the most memorable part of the proceedings. Mr John
MaUinson, of St Cuthbert's Association, in a speech fuU of grace,
moved that the "Wholesale Society should place on record 'an
expression of its regret at Mr Maxwell's retirement, and should
also record in the minutes its appreciation of, and thanks for,
his long years of service to the Society and to the movement as
a whole. The resolution was seconded and put to the meeting,
when there occurred one of those striking demonstrations which
have only occurred on very rare occasions at a Wholesale meeting.
The resolution was scarcely put to the meeting when the delegates
broke into a storm of applause, which grew in volume till some-
body rose, and in a second the delegates had become cin up-
stianding cheering mass ; a thin voice broke into song, and the
thousand voices joined in singing " He's a jolly good fellow " ;
the singing changed once again into cheers ; and, as the writer
recorded in his report of the proceedings at the time, through
it all there remained only one seated figure — that of the white-
haired, honoured, and overcome veteran, who occupied the chair,
with his head buried in his hands on the table before him. So
WiUiam Maxwell passed out of office in the S.C.W.S., although
he stiU retains his seat on the executive of the International
Co-operative AUiance as the representative of the Wholesale
Society. This is due to the resolutions of quarterly meetings.
Mr Maxwell, since the Cremona Congress of 1907, has been
president of the International AUiance, and that distinguished
office has made him the best-known Co-operator in the world.
XIII.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST.
THE NEW PRESIDENT AND HIS EARLY EMBARRASSMENTS SERIOUS INDUS-
TRIAL DEPRESSION AND ACUTE WIDESPREAD DISTRESS — COMPETITION
WITH THE MULTIPLE SHOPS — THE BUTCHERS DECLARE A NEW WAR —
THE S.C.W.S. AND A NATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY — VIGOROUS
CONTROVERSIES AND AN EPIDEMIC OF " Ilv DEPENDENT " SOCIETIES —
IRRITATING LITIGATION IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND — DISASTROUS
FIRES — death's FREQUENT VISITATIONS CAUSE A SUCCESSION OF
CHANGES — THE CALAMITOUS WAR ECLIPSES THE TRIALS OF A DECADE
— HOW THE S.C.W.S. FACED THE CRISIS — PHENOMENAL PROGRESS
MADE IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING — NEW DEPARTURES CROWD THE
YEARS — FRESH INDUSTRIES ESTABLISHED — LAND BOUGHT IN CANADA
AND CONCESSIONS IN WEST AFRICA — CLOSER RELATIONSHIPS WITH
THE C.W.S. — THE WHOLESALE'S GREAT GROWTH IN TEN TRYING YEARS
It is an interesting coincidence that the last decade of the
&st fifty years coincides exactly with the term of office of
the present occupant of the chair. Mr Maxwell's valedictory
meetiog was in September 1908 ; the Society's jubilee would
have been celebrated in September 1918 ; and so the new
president is justified in taking a good deal of personal pride
from the title which this chapter bears. Mr Robert Stewart
proved a worthy successor to the venerated president whose
mantle was conferred upon him. He had led a busy life ; but
it is the busy people who get the work to do, and it was so
especially in the case of Mr Stewart. He was not bom to
commercial life ; he adapted himself to it. He was a tradesman
— a joiner — employed at his trade in the S.C.W.S. building
department. He was a keen trade unionist, an ardent temperance
advocate, a zealous church worker, an enthusiastic Liberal, and
he had even acquired — in his earlier days — some little reputation
as a footballer. To the unthinking there is perhaps little
connection between all these things and Co-operation ; but his.
zealous participation in all these activities — not excluding the
football — ^had accustomed him to working with his fellows for
196 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
a common laudable purpose, and that is Co-operation in essence.
Born in Glasgow, located on the south side of the city, Mr
Stewart had thrown in his lot with the Kinning Park Co-operative
Society. An enthusiast in any movement which he thought it
right to join, he soon became one of the representative members
of that society. He was one of its delegates at conferences
and at meetings of Co-operative federations. He passed
through its educational committee on the way to a seat on the
board. He represented it on the directorate of the United
Co-operative Baking Society, and was its nominee for the
presidency of the Scottish Co-operator Newspaper Society, which
had been begotten by his own society. He retained this last-
mentioned post till the rule, which also disqualified Mr Maxwell
from sitting on the Co-operative News board, was passed by
the S.C.W.S. at the meeting referred to in the last chapter.
He had been sent to the S.C.W.S. board to succeed Mr Adams,
who died in 1899 and who was also a Kinning Park man. Mr
Stewart's activities had won him laurels outside the movement
also. He had proved himself an educationist of some virtue
in the Govan School Board. For a number of years he had
been a member of the Kinning Park Town Council and a bailie
of the burgh — and he treasures several pairs of white gloves
formally presented to him when there were no cases to bring
before the local police court. Mr Stewart would have been
provost of Kinning Park, but a passionate affection for
Co-operative principles seized the burgh and it merged itself
in Glasgow in 1906, and there was no longer any need for a
provost. Mr Stewart, however, was elected to the Glasgow
Town Council as one of three representatives Kinning Park
was entitled to send, and he did good work there till 1908 when
his term expired, and he did not seek re-election.
His best friends were not certain whether to congratulate
or sympathise with hiin when his election was declared. They
were satisfied that they had made no mistaken selection ; but
it was no sinecure to be president of a board of directors serving
the interests of nearly half a million members of Co-operative
societies and doing a trade of £7,500,000 a year. It was no
light undertaking to succeed a president who enjoyed a world-
wide reputation and who had the whole of the details of that
great business at his finger-ends because he had seen the
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 197
inception of so many new departments and of all its productive
factories. Now that ten years and more have passed, and the ,
Society has passed through a period which has witnessed the
destruction of empires, the overthrow of kingdoms, and a
revolution of political and economic thought in every country,
we know of no one who regrets the choice of a president which
the Wholesale made on that occasion. The attainment of the
new dignity was a remarkably interesting evolution. The
journeyman carpenter, in receipt of trade union rates of pay
from this concern, becomes a spokesman for his society at the
meetings of the shareholders, he wins his way to the boardroom,
and eventually becomes the chairman of the directors and
president of the whole great institution with its colossal trade
and its army of employees. It is a progress that does not come
to many men, and those unworthy of such promotion do not
retain their rank long. According to rule the presidency is
an office held for two years, and a re-election is necessary ;
according to practice it is an office and a dignity held ad vitam
aut culpam with a biennial re-election as a formality. Mr
Stewart's rank remains with him, and he adorns his rank.
His election to the chair still left a vacancy in the board
to be filled, and, not unnaturally, the choice of the movement
fell upon the nominee of St Cuthbert's Association, which had
been Mr Maxwell's nominating society all the years he was on
the board. The new director was Mr Robert Nesbit, who had
been a member of St Cuthbert's for about thirty-five years, for
eighteen of which he had acted as treasurer. He, too, was an
employee of the S.C.W.S., so that Mr Stewart's experience was
repeated in Mr Nesbit's election, and it was once again demon-
strated that the Co-operative movement resembled the army
of Napoleon inasmuch as the simple soldier carried the marshal's
baton in his knapsack. Mr Nesbit was the last director to be
elected by the votes of the delegates at a quarterly meeting,
all voting for directors now being done by a ballot of the
societies.
Mr Stewart's first year of office was a peculiarly trying one.
One of those oft-recurring cycles of trade depression had come,
and there was very considerable unemployment. Shopkeepers
ever5rwhere were complaining of bad trade, and the drapery
trade was one of the first to suffer. The Co-operative stores,
196 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
naturally, reflect the purchasing powers of the working-classes
and they felt the depression like other estabUshments, but not
to the same extent, for, while the distributive societies did not
show their usual rates of increase, there was nevertheless an
increase in the trade of about 7-6 per cent, up tiU the end of
March. The Wholesale Society, at the March meeting, had
voted £1,200 for the rehef of the prevailing distress. When
Mr Stewart presided for the first time at the quarterly meeting
— I2th December — ^he had to announce that the trade of the
Wholesale showed a decrease for the quarter. It was the first
time for fourteen years that the chairman had such a statement
to make, and it was a somewhat embarrassing statement for a
new president. The depression continued for some time. Acute
distress was experienced in many parts of the country, and
serious disturbance also threatened in many places. Public
soup kitchens had been opened in industrial centres ; reUef
works had been established under local authorities and distress
committees ; considerable unrest was manifesting itself, and
the nation was on the verge of one of the most serious internal
crises that had arisen for years. When the Wholesale Society's
accounts were closed for the second half-year in 1908 it was
shown that the decrease which was only 17 per cent, at the
September quarter-end had become 5-7 by the end of December,
and the returns for the first half of 1909 were 5-9 per cent,
lower than the returns for the first half of 1908. By the end
of 1909, however, the trade began to recover again, and an
increase was once more recorded.
Notwithstanding the depression in trade, the S.C.W.S. went
forging ahead. The first retail branch had been established,
as we have already recorded ; but the directors were eager to
open similar branches in Canada, especially as the Society had
already established itself there for buying purposes. The
project was in contemplation at the end of 1908, but it had to
be dropped then in view of the advice of the Society's law agent,
which was to the effect that such a step could not legally be
taken. The laundry at Potterhill was opened in January 1909,
notwithstanding a vigorous fight by Barrhead Society against
the transfer of the laundry from Barrhead. Meanwhile the
drapery department was advancing ; and on 15th March,
when the annual spring millinery and mantle show took place.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 199
it was held in a new portion of the warehouse opened that day.
This was the portion in Paterson Street immediately adjoining
the old Wallace Street front block, and it did not extend quite
to Morrison Street. The extension consisted of five floors and
a basement, and an idea of the dimensions of the new wing
may be grasped from the fact that a portion of one of the floors
in the extension had fixture accommodation for 200,000 dozen
collars. The warehouse was then beheved to be one of the
largest and best equipped in the country — considering that it
was confined to the drapery trade alone, and did not include
either boots or furniture as most wholesale establishments did
— ^but there have been further extensions and additions since
that.
In order to keep the Society's ham-curing department
supplied with the necessary " material," piggeries were
estabhshed at Enniskillen and Calderwood, and these were in
going order by the middle of 1909. The opening of the Ry elands
milk centre almost synchronised with these developments.
This was a step that seemed a natural development of the
Calderwood enterprise, and cows had already been stocked on
the estate. They did not supply all that was wanted, for,
although many of the societies had placed their contracts for
the season before Ry elands centre was in operation, the first
quarter's trade at Ryelands represented an average collection
of 6,000 gallons of milk per week. The commodious new branch
warehouse at Seagate, Dundee, which took the place of the
rented premises in Trades Lane which had been destroyed by
fire in 1906, was completed and opened in July 1909. It was
an event that stirred the enthusiasm of John Barrowman, and
his reminiscent speech on that occasion, when he recounted
some of his missionary efforts in the North, kept the audience
in merriment for some time.
The Wholesale Society, however, was again put to trouble
by a revival of the boycott by the Glasgow Fleshers' Association
and the meat and cattle salesmen associated with them. The
by-law passed by the City Corporation requiring that all bona
fide bids should be accepted at public sales had applied not only
to the city cattle market but to the foreign animals wharf at
Yorkhill. The latter place had been given up, and a new wharf
was leased at Merklands on the same side of the river. The
200 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Merklands Wharf was opened for business without the by-law
being re-enacted, and several efforts were made by the friends
of the anti-Co-operators in the Town Council to have the by-law
abohshed in so far as it appUed to the city cattle market.
Various factors brought the anti-Co-operators success in 1909.
One of these was undoubtedly political. While the boycott
raged and the virulence of the opponents of the movement
showed itself unblushingly, the Co-operators were vigorous in
their own defence. The Glasgow and West of Scotland Defence
Association developed into a Scottish National Defence
Association. Where any pubhc body refused to recognise the
Co-operators as having civic rights, either individually or
collectively, it invariably followed that a Co-operative candidate,
or more, took the field at the next election whether the public
body was a parish council, a school board, or a town council.
In this connection it ought to be said that the directors of the
Wholesale Society did not spare themselves. There was scarcely
a member of the board at this time who had not been a member
of one or more of these bodies. In addition to that, by a
resolution of the shareholders, the directors were instructed to
convey to the managers of the departments the intimation that
employees who were selected as candidates and were elected to
public bodies were to be allowed time for the performance of
their pubhc duties. That privilege has been made use of even
in the case of the Glasgow Town Council, which makes con-
siderable demands upon the time of its members. So did the
Co-operators respond to the call for Co-operative defence when
attack was unmistakable. In 1905, however, the Paisley
Congress confirmed a resolution of the Perth Congress of 1897
in favour of direct Co-operative representation in Parliament.
It had also raised the question of afiihation between the
Co-operative movement and the Labour Party, and a heated
discussion had taken place with regard to the whole question
of poUtics because the movement comprised people of all
pohtical creeds. Some shrewd observers had learned even then
that a pohtical struggle was bound to come sooner or later
between the exploiters and the exploited, and they were
convinced that the workers as a whole would have to fight
vigorously and unitedly if their conditions of hfe were to be
improved. Some, it is true, while convinced of that, believed
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 201
that the poUtical parties to which they belonged would be the
best bulwark of the workers. The struggle was virtually
between the Labourists and the Liberals, although it must be
confessed that some — though probably not many — were opposed
to the movement being allied to any party even that to which
they usually gave their support. For one reason or another,,
then, there were Co-operators opposed to political action. In
some societies they succeeded in dominating the situation to^
such an extent that these societies would not even vote funds-
to the Defence Association, on the ground that the funds were
being used for municipal elections, and that, they argued, was-
" the thin end of the wedge." There had been a slight
recrudescence of boycott and hostility in Perth, Kilmarnock,.
Leith, and one or two other places ; but it was a comparatively
mild attack. The anti-political crusade, and the subsidence of
the really virulent hostiUty of the earlier years, both contributed
to a waning of the enthusiasm of Co-operators in the municipal
elections even in Glasgow, although that apathy which was;
apparent in so many could not be alleged against the Defence
Committee itself. Thanks to the relaxation of vigilance the day-
came when the anti-Co-operators in the Glasgow Town Council,
who had been beaten so often, at last saw the hope of victory ;
they seized their opportunity, and in April 1909 they succeeded
in getting the by-laws in the city cattle market rescinded.
Friends of the movement made attempts, at meetings of the
council, to have it restored ; the Defence Committee organised
better than ever before ; Co-operators were added to the
council, but they were not sufficient, and the salesmen in the-
public auctions in the city's market are entitled, till to-day, to-
refuse to accept the bid of the Co-operative buyers who represent
over a third of the ratepayers of the city. The responsible
press of the city rebuked the Corporation for inaugurating such
a state of things ; but it seemed as if their rebukes were not
so much because the decision was an injustice to the Co-operators
as because it allowed dictation by the fleshers. The whole
aspect of the case had changed, however, from the time the
question was previously a subject of first-rank controversy.
When the 1909 decision was reached the "Wholesale Society waa
independent of the pubhc sale rings. The board reported that
they could get all the supplies they wanted — a condition which
202 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
could not be guaranteed when the trouble first arose— and the
only question that remained was that of the right of citizenship.
That right— the right of the Co-operative buyer to the same
treatment as his rivals in the pubUc sale rings — ^has not yet been
recognised by the Council of the second city of the first Empire
■of the world.
It was not purely a question for Co-operators now, it was
a question for the whole community. The community did not
recognise that. In April igog the Co-operative News pubUshed
a letter received by a Glasgow firm from a Canadian shipper of
cattle who wrote : "If the Glasgow butchers do not want live
■cattle, but prefer to go to Liverpool for the dressed beef, all
they have to do is to continue their present poUcy, and they
•can congratulate themselves that they have accomphshed their
object. If, on the other hand, they consider that it would be
a good and profitable thing to have cattle sent them from this
country, they had better get a move on and look the situation
in the face, and drop for once and for all time this ridiculous
system of hampering the free sale of cattle." It bears out what
has gone before in these pages.
In the meantime, Scotland remained under the cloud of
unemployment. Distress prevailed ever5rwhere. The reason
given for the situation in the public press was " over production."
The Glasgow Herald pubhshed an article (September) in which
it was stated that " by means of labour exchanges the country
may secure that organisation of the labour market which is a
need of the times, while a measure of regulation in the case of
the seasonal trade would avert much of the distress that is
prevalent in them." The Herald, even with its usual broad view
■of things, did not seem to recognise that such a regulation as it
desired was already in operation — even if to a hmited extent
capable of development — ^in the Co-operative movement, which
■estimated the requirements of the consumers or users of certain
articles and produced only for a known market.
An interesting controversy arose in 1910 regarding the
relationship between retail societies and the Wholesale Society.
In 1906 Mr J. C. Gray, at the annual Co-operative Congress at
Birmingham, had delivered a presidential address — one of the
last of such addresses to formulate any big departure — ^in which
he outlined a scheme for a great National Co-operative Society
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 203
which would carry on the operations then, and now, undertaken
by the numerous societies throughout the country. The S.C.W.S.
had accepted the principle of conducting retail branches, as we
have already seen, with the intention of enabUng the purchasers
at these branches to accumulate capital from their dividends,
with a view to their taking over the branches to be conducted
eventually as separate societies. Mr Peter Glasse, however,
conceived the idea that the Wholescde Society should retain
such branches and that this combination of retail and wholesale
business might make the nucleus of a National Society. Mean-
while, Mr James Deans and the Scottish Sectional Board of the
Co-operative Union were out on a campaign for the amalgamation
of retail societies in districts where there were two or more
operating and where overlapping was being complained of.
These enthusiasts found full scope for their mission at their
own doors, and the amalgamation of the whole of the Glasgow
societies was proposed and a carefuUy considered scheme was
being discussed. The whole proposition was given another
aspect in February of 1910 when, at a conference held in
connection with a memorable exhibition of S.C.W.S. productions,
held in St Andrew's Halls, Mr Archibald Henderson, then
secretary of the St George Society, read a paper, in the course
of which he argued — much like Mr Glasse — that the line of
progress was not so much in the amalgamation but in the union
of these societies with the Wholesale. The subject was discussed
frequently, if informally, but neither that idea nor Mr Deans'
idea for a big amalgamated society in Glasgow matured.
It would be neglecting a matter of some special importance
if we did not allude to a series of meetings that were held at
this time, at which a number of the city of Glasgow societies
were represented, and at which prices charged by the Wholesale
Society were compared and, in some cases, criticised. The
retail societies had been watching the developments of the
multiple firms, which, in some cases, boasted of their ability to
wipe out the Co-operative movement. Some of these firms
operated in limited areas, and some, of course, had their shops
all over the kingdom — one trust alone having over six hundred
shops. Needless to say, if they could wipe out the Co-operative
organisation they would have exterminated all the small trading
concerns in the process. Some small traders recognised this
204 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and went in dread of the multiple firms, although those who.
were organised in the Traders' Defence Association regarded the
multiple firms as legitimate trading concerns. One of these
firms set aside a considerable portion of its profits each year to-
subsidise its operations in districts where Co-operative societies
were particularly strong, the idea being, apparently, to sell
goods below the economic price. The effect of that on small
traders would have been more serious than its effect on the
Co-operative society, which had its reserves behind it and could
rely upon the resources of the whole movement in a fight of that
kind. It was clear that the societies would have to reckon on
a conflict of this kind sooner or later, and the aggressiveness of
these multiple firms was in the minds of the committees of the
societies in Glasgow where the competition was keen and where
prices were at a fairly low level compared with other places.
There were several meetings of Glasgow committees held, on
the initiative of the manager and directors of the Cowlairs
Society, and at one of these the writer was present. The
representatives present believed that the Wholesale Society could
sell at lower prices than the societies were being charged, and
to that end they organised pressure on the Wholesale board in
order to secure a reduction of prices, in view of the effects of
the industrial depression through which the country had passed
and in view of this vigorous competition. To some extent the
agitation might be described as creating a feeling of unrest.
The directors of the S.C.W.S., with a statesmanship that might
have been followed by the Government when there were
evidences of labour unrest, took the wise course of holding a
conference of representatives of all the societies catered for by
the Glasgow warehouses of the Wholesale to discuss the whole
subject freely. There were nearly one hundred societies
represented. Mr Isaac M'Donald presided and invited the
fullest frankness from the delegates because " they were all met
together as candid friends." He spoke of there being " unrest,
dissatisfaction, and even disaffection," and he said the Wholesale
directors and managers wanted to discover the cause of it.
There was little of substance to found a discussion on, and
representatives of one or two of the complaining societies
suggested that the meeting might be adjourned for two or three
weeks to enable them to collect data. The mass of the delegates
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 205
seemed to be satisfied with the statements put forward by the
directors and the proceedings terminated without adjournment.
Some of the Glasgow societies pursued the matter further,
however, and sent a deputation to the board to discuss the
whole question in detail. The directors invited the fullest
frankness from societies everywhere, and conferences were
held in other centres. The matter was further ventilated at
the September meeting in 1911, but the net result was a perfect
understanding and a pledge from the president of the Cowlairs
Society — which had led the agitation — of wholehearted loyalty
and support for the Wholesale. The matter is referred to here
at this length because it is, so far as we can trace or recollect,
the only occasion on which there was anything like organised
complaint on the score of prices. The agitation was organised
by only a few societies, and the liiass of testimony from managers
and committees of other societies was wholly in favour of the
S.C.W.S. We talked to a number of managers and buyers
representing retail societies at that time, and their answer to
our inquiries, generalised, was : " We cannot say we can buy
to better advantage elsewhere ; the Wholesale is giving us better
prices and terms than any other firm can give, but we think it
is possible that the Wholesale might do even better." That,
after all, was only a vote of confidence expressed differently
than in the usual formula. What actually inspired the agitation
to begin with was that there were a few private merchants in
competition with the Wholesale Society who were offering goods
at prices below S.C.W.S. prices ; but it was ascertained that
they were offering these goods to Co-operative societies at prices
below those charged to the private traders who were in
competition with the Co-operative societies. The most broad-
minded man imaginable could not conceive of the merchant
being actuated by any desire to assist the Co-operative societies
to the detriment of the private trader. The object, obviously,
was to undermine the loyalty of the societies to the Wholesale
and to convey the impression that the S.C.W.S. was over-
charging. Even with that object in view the pohcy of the
merchants concerned was stupid, because the Wholesale Society
was not like a concern over which the purchasing societies had
no control and from which they had no interest in purchasing.
These societies had capital sunk in the S.C.W.S. If factories
206 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
or warehouses were not being conducted successfully the
shareholders would not withdraw their trade and go elsewhere ;
they would take prompt steps to impress the directors with the
need for improving their methods, and they would take care
that improvement was effected. The Wholesale, as it was,
came out of the agitation successfully, and there has never
been any incident of the kind since, as there never had been
before.
Mr Stewart's troubles were added to for a time by his having
to pacify delegates who waxed disagreeably eloquent on the
subject of the continued heavy losses on the Calderwood Estate.
It was a standing subject for inquiry or discussion at these
meetings, and year after year the balance-sheet showed a loss
with unfailing regularity. By 1910 they had amounted to
between £20,000 and ;f 30,000 on an estate which had cost £37,000.
This was more than the delegates could regard with equanimity,
although at the time the estate was purchased they were warned
that a considerable time might elapse before the estate could be
made remunerative. The position was regarded as so serious
that on two or three occasions delegates had suggested that the
directors should sell the estate and get rid of it — and the losses.
In 1910, however, the directors employed an expert to go into
the whole of the affairs of Calderwood and ascertain, if possible,
where the root of the trouble lay and wha;t coxM. be done not
only to prevent the losses but to make the estate a profitable
department of the Society's business. The report was not at
all cheerful. The expert thought the price paid for the estate
was too high, that the charges against it for interest and
depreciation were such as would be hkely to operate against
good results, that some parts of the estate had been badly
drained, and that some of the fields required special and prompt
attention. The cattle on the estate were a good herd, but
apparently the horticultural and agricultural sections both
contributed to the losses.
The report was very carefully considered by the board. The
expert's recommendations, so far as practicable, were put into
operation ; and although the report seemed depressing it
undoubtedly paved the way for progress afterwards made and
for profits reaUsed, which are alluded to later. The appointment
of Mr G. C. Young as manager of the estate was one of the most
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 207
practical steps taken by the board to change the complexion of
the Calderwood balance-sheet.
There were troubles in some of the retail societies that
reacted to some extent upon the Wholesale Society. In some
cases societies had suffered serious financial losses and there
had been in earlier years a few failures among the Co-operative
societies. To the credit of the working-people who managed
these societies such occurrences have been exceedingly rare.
Nobody need be surprised that such things happened, for
failures happened in the commercial world, with disastrous
frequency, to firms reputed to be wealthy and to businesses
believed to be conducted on sound lines. Writing in 1911 *
we mentioned that at this time the official returns showed that
in the trading world there had been in one year no fewer than
7,651 bankruptcies in the kingdom (1,007 of which were in the
grocery and provision trade), involving losses to creditors
amounting to seven and three-quarter millions sterling. This
seems an appaUing commercial death-rate ; and when it is
mentioned that since 1905 there have been only five failures of
Co-operative societies connected with the S.C.W.S. readers will
admit that the societies seem to be planted in healthy soil. It
has to be observed that a Co-operative society planted in a
district where there is one industry must be immediately
jeopardised by the closing down of that industry and the transfer
of the population. That is one factor which makes the liquida-
tion of a village Co-operative society a possibility always to be
borne in mind. That factor, however, did not operate in any
of the cases alluded to. In almost every case the collapse was
due to the violation of rules. Credit had been given to members
while the rules prescribed that there should be no credit. The
rules and constitution of a Co-operative society reserve to the
members the control of the society's affairs ; the powers of the
directors are hmited to those conferred upon them by the
members themselves. The doings of the officials and managers
are subject to weekly review by the directors ; the doings of
the directors are subject to quarterly review (and in some
societies to monthly or bi-quarterly review) by the members ;
and where the members take the control that they are entitled
to take and expected to take they can make financial failure
* Alloa Society's Jubilee History.
208 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
next to impossible. If they neglect their prerogative and a
society comes down, however blameworthy an official or a
committee may be, the members are almost invariably equally
blameworthy. In almost every case of Co-operative failures the
shareholders have been the chief sufferers. In only a few cases
have there been trade creditors. To the credit of the Co-operative
societies of the country, when a failure has taken place they
have been ready to subscribe to mitigate the loss of the share-
holders of the unfortunate society, even when the shareholders
were themselves to blame. The failure of a Co-operative society
is so rare that when such a misfortune does take place the
newspapers make the most of it, because it is so unusual — the
papers being governed by the same principle in this as that
which leads them to give a headed paragraph or a special report
to the prosecution of a clergyman for an offence which, if
committed by an ordinary mortal, would be ignored or dismissed
in a fill-up paragraph.
The Wholesale Society, taking the view that the failure of
a Co-operative society, however easily it might be explained and
accounted for, and however much it might be the fault of the
sufferers, injured Co-operative prestige recognised that, where
possible, such a calamity should be averted by timely aid. To
enable the directors to give such aid the S.C.W.S. shareholders
voted £i,ooo to the formation of a special fund to be used for
that purpose. The amount voted, having in mind the seven
and three-quarter miUions lost by the creditors of ordinary
trading concerns in one year, was eloquent evidence of the
faith of the shareholders in the integrity of the members of the
societies throughout Scotland. That was in 1910 ; there has
been no addition to the fund since, and at the JubUee of the
Wholesale that fund amounted to £531, 2s. yd., so that the calls
upon the fund have not been heavy during those eight years.
Another of Mr Stewart's unpleasant worries that came on
top of those already mentioned was that arising from a crop of
what were called " Independent " societies. In Mr Maxwell's
time a split had occurred in Kilwinning, and some members
had left the local society to form a new society. From a purely
commercial point of view one might say it should not matter
to the S.C.W.S. where its trade came from or what the societies
were who joined it, so long as they were Co-operative societies
AT THE CENTRAL PREMISES
BOARD ROOM
DIRECTORS' REFERENCE LIBRARY
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS
GLASGOW SALE ROOM (First View)
GLASGOW SALE ROOIVl (Second View)
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 209
registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, as
the Wholesale's rules required. The members of the Wholesale
Society took a higher view of their function than that. They
recognised the S.C.W.S. not simply as a trading concern but
as a federation established to help to spread Co-operation.
Consequently, when the Segton Co-operative Society — as the
hive-off from Kilwinning was called— sought to be admitted as
a member of the Wholesale Society the other members refused
because Co-operation would never be advanced by little societies
sphtting themselves up into competing fractions. They took
the view that there were advisory bodies in the movement to
whom differences could be referred ; and it was held that if
admission to the membership of the Wholesale were made easy
for every little coterie which pleased to create a secession serious
harm would be done, not only to the whole organisation but to
the members induced to secede. In the Kilwinning case the
trouble was purely personal.
The cases that arose shortly after Mr Stewart's accession to
the presidency were a little more serious. In Wishaw,
Motherwell, and Shettleston religious differences arose between
members of the societies. In Motherwell the causes were easily
understood. A Glasgow lecturer, who afterwards fell foul of
^the law, conducted open-air propaganda in the town and
created a good deal of sectarian bitterness. The manager of the
Dalziel Co-operative Society, Mr Wilham Purdie, was Provost
of Motherwell at the time, and his whole influence was thrown
in the direction of preserving the good feeling that normally
existed in the town, and the fair-minded Protestants and
Catholics alike recognised the efforts he made. There were
disorders, however, and there was great bitterness engendered.
Unfortunately, some members of the Co-operative society, on
both sides, caught the infection, and the result was the
formation of the Independent Society there, which was chiefly
composed, at the beginning at least, of Catholics. Good
Catholic Co-operators in Motherwell and elsewhere deprecated
the proceeding, and, for the most part, Catholics who were
members of the Dalziel Society retained their membership. In
Wishaw and Shettleston the causes for the secession were more
obscure, but the independent societies in these districts were also
started by Nationalists or Catholics. Applications for admission
210 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
as members of the S.C.W.S. were made by each of these societies ;
but all such applications were turned down, not because these
were Catholic societies but because they represented movements
calculated to divide the people whose chief need was solidarity.
Some of the promoters of these societies tried to read religious
prejudice into the refusals, but CathoHcs who understood
Co-operative principles and procedure recognised that it was a
sound Co-operative principle that two societies should not exist
in a district which could be more economically worked by one.
Any suggestion that such societies were excluded on denomina-
tional grounds can be set aside in view of what happened to
the Segton Society, and in view of the fact that admission was
similarly refused to the Abbeygreen Society, started at
Lesmahagow as a result of a strike of the employees of the
Coalburn Society. The strikers and their sympathisers
inaugurated the Abbeygreen Society, and, in a general way,
it would be true to say that trade union and Co-operative
sympathy was very largely against the Coalburn committee ;
but, in spite of that, the feeling in the movement was that
societies should be improved, if they needed improvement, from
the inside. There have been heartburnings when such appUca-
tions for admission have been refused, but even those most
indignant at the time have had to acknowledge that the
judgment of the S.C.W.S. directors and delegates was right,,
and most of those who joined such sectional organisations have
eventually found their way back to the parental roof. It might
be observed here, parenthetically, that, except on these very
rare occasions, there has been no raising of denominational
questions at Wholesale meetings, and the members of societies,
whatever their creed, have worked loyally together for the
Co-operative cause without attempting to introduce issues that
ought not to be raised at Co-operative gatherings. After many
years of close intimate experience of the Wholesale and retail
societies in Scotland, we feel justified in sa5dng that there is
less of the sectarian spirit shown in the Co-operative movement
than in any other democratic organisation we know.
One of the most anxious experiences of the Wholesale directors,
and the shareholders arose on 3rd September 1911, when the
splendid buildings in Morrison Street, Glasgow, fell a victim to
the fire fiend. It was a Sunday evening. Twilight was
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 211
beginning to deepen, churchgoers were on their way home, and
thousands of people were still enjoying the out-of-door pleasures
of a delightful evening when the comparative quiet of the
Sabbath was broken by the shrieking syrens which cleared the
streets for the swift-fi3dng red motor engines of the fire-brigade ;
and the citizens, even on the outskirts, hastened to seek vantage
points from which they might locate the fire which now
illuminated the sky, for it was evident that it was no ordinary
outbreak to which the brigade had been summoned. Describing
the spectacle for the Co-operative News at the time, we wrote :
" The magnificent building involved in the conflagration was
one of the most admired architectural features of Southern
Glasgow. Standing almost on the level of the quays of Kingston
Dock, it formed the stage upon which the Fire-King gave the
awe-inspiring demonstration of his rage, which was witnessed by
the thousands who thronged the natural galleries formed by the
eminences of Govanhill, Kelvingrove, Springburn, Yorkhill,
Mount Florida, and Queen's Park, and by other heights in and
around the city, from which the various triumphs, first of the
flames and then of the firemen, could be clearly observed. It
seemed as if the whole interior of the huge pile of masonry
had become a roaring furnace which would consume stone and
lime and reduce ' the pride of the Co-operators of Scotland '
to hot dust. In that dazzling glare the outlines of the buildings
in the neighbourhood were clearly distinguishable, even at the
distance of nearly two miles. The familiar clock gusset of the
Wholesale dining-room block, the domes of the drapery ware-
house, the masts of the shipping in the river, and the steeples
and chimneys that intervened were sharply outlined." Viewed
on the following day the building seemed to be a terrible wreck.
On the east side of the tower nothing was left standing of the
two uppermost storeys but the bare walls and gaping windows,
while the north-eastern turret had disappeared. In place of
the magnificent dome which rose above the centre of the
building there was a warped and twisted framework of steel
girders, while the large figure of Light and Truth hung head
downwards from the summit. The three lower storeys appeared
to be intact, not even a window being broken. Inside the
building, after an inspection, it was found that the eastern
division of the counting-house was altogether unfit for working
212 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
in, owing to the damage done by water ; the china department
— one of the most attractive showrooms in Britain^ — was in a
similar condition, as also was the optical department. The
ironmongery, tinware, bedding, and brush departments were
completely gutted out. The grocery buyers' rooms and the
saleroom were almost unapproachable because of the flood of
water still coming from above. The damage done amounted to
about £40,000, all of which was covered by insurance.
The recovery from the effects of the disaster was remarkable.
On the Sunday night heads of departments flocked to the scene
and were joined by the directors living in the city. Consulta-
tions took place and preliminary arrangements were made for
Monday morning's business. The offices were temporarily
transferred to 119 Paisley Road, the dining-room block.
Arrangements were also made for the temporary establishment
of the departments displaced. The whole clerical staff, with
the exception of about forty, was located in the west-end of
the counting-house, and began before ten o'clock on Monday
morning. The remaining forty were set at liberty till two
o'clock, by which hour desks had been erected in the Clarence
Street Hall, and there they resumed their duties. By eleven
on Monday morning orders were being taken as usual, and the
promptness with which work was commenced after the calamity
spoke volumes for the organisation of the Wholesale. It is
also worthy of note that the week's sales, despite the terrible
upheaval, amounted to £206,247, which constituted a record
for the Society. It was a trying experience for all who had
any responsibiUty for carrying on the work, but even those who
knew the wonderful capacity of the staff were amazed at the
excellence of the arrangements made.
The new president might well grow grey in those early years
of his office, for the Wholesale passed from one trouble to
another, and these brought their own anxieties even if the
Society passed out of them creditably. Irritating legislation
was initiated in Ireland by farmers whose premises were in
proximity to the S.CW.S. establishment at Enniskillen. An
action was taken to claim an injunction to restrain the Wholesale
" from discharging noxious matter " into the lake. The
pursuers claimed that the sewage from the piggery so polluted
the water that cattle could not drink of it, and so their lands
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 213
were rendered useless for grazing purposes. The action was
not reasonable. The Wholesale had created septic tanks for,
purifying all liquid matter coming from the piggery, and before
that action was instituted the Society had undertaken to
remove all possible causes of complaint, and the new system
had almost been completed at the commencement of the action.
The case, however, was decided against the Society. About
the same time the Society figured as pursuer and as defender
in two actions in the Court of Session. The lessee of the coal
pit at Calderwood, a man named Armstrong, sued the Society
for reduction of his lease, for repayment of £200 expended in
working expenses, and for £750 damages, the action being
founded on alleged essential error in entering into the lease.
The S.C.W.S., on the other hand, sought to have the contract
of lease ended, and Armstrong removed from possession of the
subjects, and sued for payment of money advances. Armstrong
denied that he owed any money. The Lord Ordinary granted
the Society absolvitor in the action against them, and in the
action which they brought he granted the decree in terms of
the conclusion of the summons.
A much more important lawsuit arose in which the S.C.W.S.
was particularly, if only indirectly, concerned. A popular
taste in the West of Scotland had developed in favour of an
exceptionally white loaf, and every effort was being made to
cater for that taste. At very considerable expense the S.C.W.S.
secured a plant which, by electrical treatment, bleached the
flour in the process of milling. The Public Health Authorities
in Scotland decided to test the legahty of bleached flour. Other
processes were in use for the same purpose by other millers,
and we believe that in some cases the whiteness was secured
by the use of added elements. The outcome of any legal
proceedings was doubtful ; but it appeared as if the authorities
recognised that a test case would fail in its purpose if it were
not properly and fully defended. A prosecution was instituted
against the Uddingston Co-operative Society for having, in
response to a demand for i lb. of flour, sold " a quantity of
material which purported to be flour but which was not genuine
flour." It was the first prosecution of the kind in Scotland.
The basis of the charge was that, on analysis, the material was
found to contain 3-43 per million of nitrates, which was in excess
214 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of that found in genuine flour. The case came before Sheriff
Shennan at Hamilton. The flour had been sold to the society
by the S.C.W.S., and upon the S.C.W.S. lay the onus of
defending its processes of producing flour. A special hearing
had to be arranged for 25th March 1912, owing to the number
of experts that had to be called to discuss the matter from
technical and scientific points of view. Mr C. D. Murray, K.C.,
appeared for the Society ; experts gave evidence on one side
to prove how harmful 3"43 per million — ^not per cent. — of
nitrates could be ; experts gave evidence on the other to prove
that the bleaching of flour by the Wholesale's methods did not
involve any adulteration ; but eventually it was decreed that
the process did affect the flour to the extent stated, and that
was, technically, a violation.
The miners' strike of 1912 gave most people in the country
something to think about. It created a good deal of distress,
and the S.C.W.S. delegates promptly voted ;^5,ooo to alleviate
that distress ; but the subject falls to be dealt with more fully
in a subsequent chapter.* In 1912 the agitation which had
been proceeding since 1908 for the absorption of the Co-operative
Insurance Society by the two Wholesale Societies reached its
end, and the C.I.S. became a joint department of the E. & S
C.W.S.
Another development which matured about the same time
was the inauguration of the Scottish Co-operative Friendly
Society, f A meeting of those eligible for membership was
held in the Clarence Street Hall on nth April, at which it was
agreed to form the Society, and a provisional committee was
set up with Mr Peter Glasse as president, Mr Robert Macintosh
as vice-president, Mr James Sutherland as interim secretary,
with whom was associated Mr John Pearson representing the
S.C.W.S., which financed the preliminary proceedings till the
Friendly Society was properly constituted. On i8th June a
further meeting was held, when it was reported that the
committee had received intimations from 2,645 employees of
the Wholesale that they were prepared to join. Rules prepared
were submitted ; the society was formally constituted ; appli-
* See Chapter XV.
t The Insurance and Friendly Society branches of the business form the
subject of a special article in the Descriptive Section.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 215
cation for registration was made and duly received. When these
preliminaries were completed, Mr WilUam Thomson was
appointed secretary, and Mr James Sutherland was appointed
treasurer. The society has had a singularly successful experience,
and has been so well conducted as to merit special commendation
from the Insurance Commissioners.
Meanwhile events had been crowding upon one another.
Kinning Park Society made an attempt in 1910 to' reawaken
interest in the superannuation of directors ; but the delegates
would not even appoint a committee to consider the subject.
The subject was returned to later, and a special committee,
appointed in 1913, submitted schemes of superannuation for
directors and employees. This was discussed in Glasgow in
June of 1914, but the scheme was rejected.
In February 1910 the board lost ex-BaiUe Stevenson, who had
been a member in 1872, and who had been refused re-election,
after the Ironworks debacle, till 1891, from which date till the
week before his death he had served continuously and well on
the board. He was a sturdy Kilmarnock Co-operator, whose
best friend could not escape his wrath if he did not keep to
the straight line. Mr Stevenson was succeeded on the board
by Bailie George Thomson, also the nominee of Kilmarnock,
who had the distinction of being the first director to be elected
by ballot vote. On 30th April of the same year there passed
away Mr John Allan, one of the promoters and the first
secretary of the Wholesale, who had also been president of the
Society from 1875 till 1879. The old veteran had lived to see
fourscore years, and during all that time he had probably never
lost a friend he had made. On the last day of April he was
laid to rest in Janefield Cemetery, whither his remains were
followed by three of his successors at the Wholesale — ^Mr Maxwell,
Mr Stewart, and Mr Pearson ; besides his old colleague, Mr
James Deans, and a number of the S.C.W.S. officials who had
worked under him. In August Mr John Arthur, Paisley
Provident Society's nominee on the board, found it necessary to
retire owing to ill-health, after twenty-three years' service.
He carried the goodwill of the delegates with him into his
retirement, and as an earnest of this they voted him a parting
gift of a year's salary — ^then only £200. Unhappily, he was
not long spared to enjoy his leisure, and in the following spring
216 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
he passed away. His place, in the meantime, had been filled
by the election of Mr A. B. Weir, of Barrhead. His election
was unique, in some respects, for it was the result of Barrhead's
protest against the removal of the dress shirt laundry from
Barrhead to Paisley — a. change to which the Barrhead
Co-operators strongly objected. Their objection failed because
the protest was too late; but Mr Weir's nomination was an
echo of the discussions on the subject. The year 1912 was
particularly noteworthy for its changes in personnel. On 22nd
January Mr Robert Nesbit, of St Cuthbert's, Mr Maxwell's
successor on the board, passed away suddenly in a nursing
home where he had undergone what was expected to be a slight
operation. He had entered the institution on the Thursday
in excellent spirits^as he nearly always was — ^and the operation
was successfully performed on the Sunday ; but on Monday
the patient succumbed to heart failure. He had scarcely
completed three years' service on the board. His record of
service in St Cuthbert's, including eighteen years as treasurer,
was a record entirely creditable ; and no less creditable was
his fourteen years' service as member of the S.C.W.S. staff
prior to his election. He was succeeded by a fellow member
of St Cuthbert's, Mr Charles W. Macpherson, a quiet, plodding,
unassuming worker, who beheved in doing one job at a time.
Mr Macpherson was not destined to survive long. In November
1914 he was compelled to absent himself from his duties, and
on 3rd February 1915 the end came. It was following his
death that BaiUe William Archbold was elected to the board ;
and it may be added that BaiUe Archbold had the unique
experience of being the first director to be elected with a clear
majority over all other candidates at the first ballot. Mr Robert
Watson, who had charge of the catering department of the
S.C.W.S. for thirteen years, and who had managed the purvey
department of the United Co-operative Baking Society prior
to that, died in May 1912 after a prolonged illness ; and a
successor was found in Mr George Boyle, who filled a similar
capacity in St Cuthbert's Association. In June of the same
year Mr John Barrowman, the manager of the Dundee branch,
whose activities have already been referred to,* retired from
active service. His valuable labours were acknowledged by
* See page 112.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 21'?
the delegates, who voted him the equivalent of two years'
salary as a parting gift. The president, at the meeting at which
this was agreed to, paid a striking tribute to Mr Barrowman's
disinterested services to the Wholesale from the time he was
elected treasurer in 1875. His old colleagues on the staff took
the opportunity of offering him an evidence of their esteem in
the form of a purse of sovereigns and a complimentary address.,,
signed by Messrs Robert Macintosh, Ebenezer Ross, Allan Gray,
and David Gardiner. The presentation took place in the
S.C.W.S. boardroom, with Mr E. Ross in the chair and a big
array of the heads of departments present ; and the speeches
delivered by Mr Ross, Mr Macintosh, Mr Barrowman, and others
were deHghtfuUy reminiscent. Two and a half years later, in
January 1915, reminiscences were again in order though under
more melancholy circumstances, for the veteran had passed to
his reward, and he was laid to rest in the old Parish Churchyard
at Tollcross, Glasgow, with the deepest respect his old Wholesale
associates could show to his memory. Another old worker,
who retired from service in 1912, was Mr James Davidson, the
manager of the Society's building department. He had acted
as master of works for many years, during which he had
supervised the erection of many of the Society's properties
95 Morrison Street being his most noteworthy monument ; but
he had also given his services unhesitatingly to the Convalescent
Homes Association, and the committee of that association had
taken means to show their appreciation of his interest in the
erection of the SeamiU Home and the extension of Abbotsview.
He gave up his responsibiUty in 1912 ; but for a short time he
retained a connection with his old department in a consultative
capacity, the management of the department being handed over
to his assistant, Mr WiUiam Mercer, who still retains the
charge.
Two more changes have to be recorded. Within a month
of each other, the one in June and the other in July, Mr Henry
Murphy and Mr Isaac Macdonald passed away. Mr Murphy,
who had been one of the first directors of the Lanark Provident
Society, was president of that society in 1912 when its jubilee
celebrations were in progress. He was a director of the
S.C.W.S. in 1877 ; and he was on one occasion nominated for
the presidency in opposition to Mr Maxwell. In his earlier
218 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
years on the board he created a good deal of stir, and when he
was not on the board he did the same from the delegates'
benches. In 1890, after some time out of office, he was
re-elected to the board, and held his seat till death rendered it
vacant. His progressive ideas and his cultured platform powers
made him one of the best known Co-operators in the country.
Mr Isaac Macdonald, on the other hand, was not a platform
personality, and he dreaded the ordeal of being regarded as
such. He was on the board in 1875, but retired at the end of
that year. In 1882 he was re-elected, but the following year
he found it necessary to retire again. So highly was he esteemed
in Dumbarton that he was once more returned in 1888, and
he remained till the end in 1912. He was a shrewd adviser,
and his death was lamented by nobody more than by the heads
of departments of the Wholesale who had frequent negotiations
with him. The two vacancies in the board were filled at the
same time ; but the dual election caused a good deal of lively
interest, and it was not tiU a fifth ballot had been taken that
Mr WiUiam GaUacher, of LarkhaU, and Mr T. B. StirUng, the
manager of the Vale of Leven Society, were declared elected.
The melancholy tale of deaths in 1912 would not be complete
without reference to the passing of one of the veterans of the
movement who was scarcely known to the younger generation.
This was Mr Robert Murray, of Barrhead, who, in his eighty-four
years, had played a very important part in the Co-operative
fife of the community although his term of service on the
S.C.W.S. directorate, commenced in 1880, was not of very long
duration. He had been a familiar figure at Renfrewshire
conferences ; but for a good many years before his death he
had retired from active participation in Co-operative affairs.
His death was the result of an accident which broke his leg,
and his advanced years rendered him too weak to recover.
It would almost seem from what has gone that the new
chairman's reign had been one of incessant trouble ; but it was
not so. We have already enumerated some of the advances
that had been made. In 191 1 motor engineering* was added
to the Society's enterprises. The dress shirt factory was
removed to Paisley in 1912, and the Leith Co-operators,
annoyed at losing their factory which was transferred to be
* See Descriptive Section.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 219
under the same roof as the laundry, were consoled with the
inauguration of a new hosiery factory. Numerous purchases
were made for developments, including property at Kilmarnock
(1912), the site of the valuable property at Smith Street,
Kinning Park (1912), additional ground in Paterson Street
(1913), the Ayrshire blanket mills at Galston (1913), the
Wallace Street property (1913), additional grouijd at Shieldhall
(1914), the St James Street site (1914) on which the Kinning
Park aerated water factory has been erected, and the site and
property between Dundas Street, Morrison Street, and Clarence
Street on which the new grocery warehouse is being erected.
The most important venture of aU was the West African
enterprise.* It was not of the nature of what is known in
international politics as the the " African adventure," which
is the outcome of a spirit of imperialism and exploitation. The
movement had been clamouring for sources of supplies of raw
material which would place Co-operative factories beyond the
power of capitalist concerns bent upon cornering these com-
modities. An agitation had been vigorously carried on in the
Co-operative Press and on the Co-operative platform, and it
was in search of supplies, chiefly for the margarine and soap
factories, that the S.C.W.S. dispatched its expedition to the
Gold Coast. Mr Robert Stewart, Mr James Young, and Mr
Robert Macintosh had been on business missions before, but
it is doubtful whether they undertook any mission of greater
importance. They went to secure land upon which supplies
could be cultivated under conditions which would give the
natives no reason to regard Scottish Co-operators otherwise
than as friends, and as a result of their journey valuable
concessions were secured, the nature of which is described in
the article on overseas enterprises. They set off in April 1914,
and their journey occupied eleven weeks. Other deputations
have gone there since then, but to those three must be paid
the honours due to pioneers.
The West African mission had scarcely returned when the
war cloud broke. The year had opened seriously enough for
the Wholesale, for in January the boot factory at Shieldhall
was gutted by fire, and very serious inconvenience was occasioned,
while productive work was completely disorganised for a time.
* See Descriptive Section.
220 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Such disorganisation as that could be got over, and was got
over because of the resources of the Wholesale and the business
capacity of the directors and staff. The disorganisation caused
by the war was different, for the directors and staff were no
longer masters of their own actions, and they had to bow to
the stem necessities of war.
The greatest injury the war did was the injury to the
propagation of the international ideals of Co-operation. For
years internationaUsm in Co-operation had been preached.
The idea came from France, and French Co-operators, appealing
at the Co-operative Congress at Derby in 1884, had secured the
appointment of a committee to promote correspondence with^
Co-operators abroad. British, French, and Italian Co-operators
took up the new movement with vigour. At Carhsle in 1887
the British Co-operative Congress declared it to be expedient
to form an International Co-operative Alliance " for the
promotion of Co-operative organisation and social peace."
Mr E. 0. Greening — the companion and associate of Holyoake,
Vansittart Neale, Judge Hughes, and other Co-operative giants
of a generation ago — was the first secretary of the AUiance.
A great meeting of representative leaders of European Co-
operative organisations had been held in London in 1893, and
this meeting paved the way for the first International Co-operative
Congress, which was also held in London, in 1895. In 1896
and 1897 Congresses were held at Paris and Delft ; but the pace
was too fast in view of the difficulty of making arrangements
for the proper organisation of the Congress and for the proper
utihsation of the time at the disposal of the delegates. In
1900, 1902, and 1904 Congresses were held at Paris, Manchester,
and Budapest ; and at intervals of three years thereafter
similar gatherings were held at Cremona, Hamburg, and Glasgow.
These Congresses had brought the working people of Europe
into closer contact. Co-operators from Glasgow and Edinburgh
and Aberdeen had heard Co-operators from Moscow and
Hamburg and Vienna and Paris and Milan making speeches,
which, when translated at the Congresses, breathed exactly the
same views as they themselves expressed. They saw how
Co-operators in other lands were working to overcome the same
economic and social disadvantages as beset Co-operators in
this country. They began to understand one another better.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 221
They began to see that human nature was much the same
everywhere, and they were awakening to the fact that there is
no river, or mountain range, or artificial frontier on one side
of which all is virtue and on the other side of which all is vice
and chicanery. Side by side with the International Congresses
there had sprung up a movement for organised Co-operative
tours in which those interested might take part. These, too,
brought the Co-operators of the Continent in closer contact
with ourselves ; for whether the trips were organised to take
British Co-operators to the Continent or to take Continental
Co-operators to this country, the effect was the same — they
broke down the barriers of misunderstanding which centuries
of national prejudices and suspicions had raised, and they
conduced to the spread of international amity and brotherhood.
While Co-operators were being awakened by these international
exchanges, the Socialist International and the International
Federation of Trade Unions had also been at work breeding a
spirit of kinship and comradeship among the working people
of the world. The French and the German Co-operators,
British and Russian Co-operators, Austrian and Italian Co-
operators, descendants of those who had fought one another
even in living memory, began to realise that, whatever their
traditional ideas of each other had been, the peoples of the
different nations had no animosity, and had no reason to have
animosity towards each other ; and the feeling grew that the
spirit of competition and profitmongering — to which Co-operation
in every country was opposed — had begotten the wars of the
past. From Co-operative platforms in every country the
competition of armament firms, which could only live on the
proceeds of war or preparation for war, was denounced. At
one international gathering after another Co-operators pointed
out that, if the wild competition as to which nation could pUe
up the greatest armaments were allowed to continue, war would
be the inevitable result. Politicians, on the other hand, said :
Prepare for war and peace will ensue. The tragedy of 1914
gives melancholy testimony as to which contention was right.
Rightly or wrongly, as readers of varied views may feel, the
international Co-operative platform stood out for the Umitation
and:,. ultimate abolition of armaments, for the eradication of
racial prejudices, and for universal peace. In 1909, at the
25i2 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Co-operative Congress at Newcastle, the delegates — prompted
by the efforts of the Daily Mail to create bitterness between
Germany and ourselves — passed a resolution denouncing these
attempts to arouse feelings calculated to lead to war. Mr
Stewart, the chairman of the S.C.W.S., seconded that resolution.
It was not proposed because of any British preference for
Germany ; for, if the Daily Mail's efforts had been directed to
creating enmity between France and ourselves, a similar
resolution would have been passed with equal readiness.
In 1913, when the International Co-operative AUiance held
its triennial Congress in Glasgow, under the presidency of
Mr Maxwell, one of the most deUghtful events was the passing
of a resolution by which the Co-operators represented by the
AlHance pledged themselves to work for universal peace.* The
resolution was supported by speeches from Mr Maxwell as
representing Great Britain, M. Albert Thomas as representing
France, Herr Von Elm as representing Germany, M. O. DehU
as representing the Scandinavian countries ; and there were
others less weU known. The Congress was one of the most
representative the Alliance had held. About eighteen countries
were represented by delegates ; but if the political divisions of
Europe had been those that have resulted from the war, the
number of states represented would have been about twenty-
three or twenty-four; and two hundred of the delegates came
* The following is the text of the resolution : — " That this Congress
fully endorses the action recently taken by the executive and central
committees of the International Co-operative Alliance in order to
manifest that it is in the interests of the Co-operators of all countries to
do their best to uphold peace. The Congress emphasises once more that
the maintenance of peace and goodwill among all nations constitutes an
essential condition for the development of Co-operation and the realisation
of those ends which are aimed at by this movement. The Congress
further desires to impress upon the public opinion of all nations the fact
that the reasons for the continuance of armaments and the possibility
of international conflicts will disappear as the social and economic life
of every nation becomes organised according to Co-operative principles,
and that, therefore, the progress of Co-operation forms one of the most
valuable guarantees for the preservation of the world's peace. The
Congress, therefore, exhorts the people of every country to join our
movement and strengthen their power. The International Congress of
the Alliance declares itself in amity with all the Co-operators of the
world, and welcomes any action they may take in this direction or in
which they may participate. Congress also welcomes all demonstrations
made or to be made by other organisations with the same aim."
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 223
from countries outside of the United Kingdom. The membership
of the Co-operative organisations in the countries represented
exceeded twenty millions, and, as in this country, most of these
members were heads of families, so that the great peace resolution
was carried with enthusiasm by delegates speaking in the name of
nearly a hundred milUon people with Co-operative interests.
A hundred million Europeans of common aim could make war
impossible. The resolution thrilled the imagination and gave
rise to a hope of a glorious future when the wisdom of the people
of the world would find some amicable means of settling their
disputes without recourse to the red arbitrament of war ; but, less
than a year later, the war-cloud burst, and to Co-operators all
over Europe, who had cherished the hope of "a world safe for
democracy " — to anticipate President Wilson's great ideal —
the coming of war with all its horrors seemed to sweep away
the pillars upon which the whole future rested.
The first concern of the S.C.W.S. staff was to avert the food
panic to which the nation seemed to be rushing headlong even
before Great Britain declared war, and for its services in that
direction the nation owes a measure of gratitude to the
Wholesale and its staff that is not yet fully paid. This first
great service was of incalculable value. Britain had scarcely
become a belligerent when the employees in the various
departments met, and decided to levy themselves weekly for
relief funds which they knew would be indispensable. The
directors decided that employees who were Territorials or
Reservists, all of whom were called out, and those who
volunteered for service with the Colours, should have their
jobs kept open for them, and should be paid an allowance
which, added to their military pay, would leave their
dependants in the same position financially as when the
employee was at work. In the first month of war 300 S.C.W.S.
employees went to the Colours. At the first meeting of the
shareholders they voted ;f5,ooo to the Prince of Wales' Fund,
£500 to the Belgian ReUef Fund, and £500 extra for hospitals
in view of possible needs. Horses, motor cars, and material
were commandeered. The factories of the Wholesale were put
at the disposal of the Government for the production of clothing
and boots and foodstuffs, and the whole great trading
organisation which had taken nearly fifty years to build up
£24 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
was similarly devoted to the public service. Nevertheless,
the Government failed to realise what all this meant, and at
times it would seem as if the Government was bent on putting
obstacles in the way of a Co-operative contribution to the great
task of saving the country. This mentahty on the part of the
Government was inexpUcable. The competitive system had
broken down completely. The Government had had to abolish
competition so far as railways were concerned. The banks,
threatened with chaos, had to be closed for extra " Bank
HoUdays," to give their managers time to think and to consult
with the Government, ajid the famous Moratorium was declared.
Shops were invaded for supplies, and the wealthy crowded doWn
to shops in working-class areas to buy up sugar which was, in
•consequence, raised to 6d. per lb., while Co-operative stores
kept selling normal supphes to members at the old price of
2^d. per lb. The managers of a few co-operative societies
that had been purchasing goods from private merchants foimd
their sources of supply gone — except at ransom prices — ^and
had to fall back upon the Wholesale Society for goods. It
taught them a lesson ; and, although it imposed an added
■demand upon the resources of the Wholesale, their demands
■were met as few of the large commercial houses could have
met them, and at prices which were not influenced by any
profiteering instinct. The economic usefulness of the S.C.W.S.
during the war period faUs more properly into the scope of a
■subsequent chapter ;* but these preliminary experiences must
be dealt with here. One other act may weU be disposed of in
this chapter. Calderwood Castle was handed over to Belgian
refugees ; and in the beginning of October there were about
200 of them housed there, and were able to rest there, with
some peace of mind, amid charming surroundings well calciolated
to make them forget the singing of the shells and the sight of
devastated homes and shrines, ruined fields, and reddened
rivers. It was not exactly " home " to them ; but they did
feel a sense of restfulness when they approached the castle for
the first time by the stately avenue, and their eyes drank in
the beauties of the glen, the glories of the wooded slopes, the
surging Calder, and the wonderful charms of the lovely estate.
The Belgian guests at Calderwood were well fed and all their
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THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 225
material wants were well attended to. There were one or two
deaths during their stay, children were born, and marriages
took place. A school was established with a Belgian teacher.
The refugees were nearly all Roman CathoUcs, and a priest
travelled to Calderwood every Sunday to conduct their services
in the large hall provided by the Wholesale. One of the
Society's motor cars was put at his disposal to convey him
there from Glasgow and to take him home, and this consideration
was highly appreciated by the Catholic authorities and warmly
commended by the CathoUc press. Social gatherings were
arranged at frequent intervals, and a real St Nicholas festival
was held every Christmas, when gifts were presented to young
and old alike. Not least of the services rendered to them was
in the supply of clothing when the first contingent arrived —
those who had had to fly without preparation. The refugees
were made to feel at home if that were at all possible. The
president of the S.C.W.S. took a lively interest in the welfare
of the Belgians ; but the way in which Mrs Stewart mothered
the party from the first contingent's arrival till the end of the
war was something that, perhaps more than any other con-
sideration shown them, tended to dispel the gloom of their exile.
The Wholesale had a good deal of work on hand when the
war interfered. Several building extensions, for example, were
in contemplation or required ; the trade unions were appeaUng
to the directors to carry on so as to prevent unemployment,
while the delegates were warning the directors against embarking:
upon these undertakings at a time so fraught with uncertainty.
Factories had to be kept going, but people were reluctant to<
spend money on boots or clothing unless they were almost
compelled to. The Government settled these problems in its
own way. It restricted building on the one hand, and it
monopolised much of the productive capacity of the S.C.W.S.
by issuing orders for cloth and clothes and boots and food.
The food supplies were kept up by the Wholesale so long as
suppUes were obtainable. Prices were kept down so long as
that was possible. The Wholesale, however, did not manufacture
everything ; for raw materials for many of its factories it had
to depend upon the markets ; when it found supplies of goods,,
it had to satisfy the demands of the shippers ; when supplies,
of sugar were allotted to it by the Sugar Commission, no regard.
226 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
was paid by the Commission to the fact that the membership
of societies had increased enormously owing to the influx of
people who resented profiteering.
The whole Co-operative movement took the field at the
beginning of the war to demand Government action against
the ramp in prices. The Government professed its inability to
control prices or to control freights, although the Wholesale
Society's entire machinery was at its disposal to prevent prices
from rising, and its evidence was available to show when prices
rose needlessly. Flour, tea, sugar, margarine, bread, and other
necessaries were being sold to the stores by the S.C.W.S. at prices
at which managers could not buy elsewhere. That was why
the membership of the societies grew and why the sales from
the Wholesale and the productions in the S.C.W.S. factories
went up so rapidly as they did. The Aberdeen Northern
Society, which owned its own steamer for carrjdng coal from
Newcastle, found that 6d. per ton added to the pre-war freight
covered all the extra war risks, extra insurance, a.nd increases
in the wages of sailors and dockers ; while the freight of coal
carried in privately owned vessels from Newcastle to London
i(the same distance, the same risks, and the same increases in
wages, insurance, and charges) was increased by 11/ per ton
at the beginning of 1915 ; and this society sold its coal at only
one shilling per ton more to the members than in pre-war times.
But the Goverrmient said it " could not " control either freight
or coal, although it did so eventually. When it did begin,
prices had almost reached the limit that patience would stand,
and it almost invariably happened that the control of price
-was a signal for the commodity to disappear from the market.
The president put it very concisely at one of the Wholesale
meetings when he said that the profiteers had no particular
reason to quarrel with the Controllers, for the Controllers or
their Commissions gave ample evidence that the interests of
brokers, commission agents, and other middlemen — ^to say
nothing of the railway and shipping shareholders and the
farmers — ^were to be considered before the interests of the
consumers on whose behalf Control was inaugurated. Co-
operators, agreeing that Control was desirable, exerted themselves
±0 have Control so exercised that the consumers would gain ;
but they gave up the attempt as hopeless.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 227
The " excess profits " duty, which was advocated by
Co-operators early in 1915 as a means of keeping down prices,
was eventually resorted to. It was badly applied, because it
provided in effect that the sellers could make what profit they
pleased so long as they shared with the Treasury. It was made,
also, to apply to Co-operative societies, which, according to
the Government's own experts, did not make trade profits at
all. As originally appKed, it meant that if the surplus divided
among the members of the society was more than in the standard
period, the tax was imposed. The effect was anomalous.
Prices had gone up by almost fifty per cent. A member of a
society who bought £10 worth of food found it necessary to
pay £15 for the same goods. With a dividend of 10 per cent,
on purchases — 20/ in the first case and 30/ in the other — ^his
net outlay meant, at the two periods, £g and £13, los. ; so
that, while the altered circumstances represented a net loss of
£4, los. he was charged excess profits duty on 10/. Sub-
sequently the procedure was changed, and the tax was not
imposed unless the rate per £ of dividend was higher than in
the standard period ; but the change was not obtained without
a great deal of agitation. Mr Bonar Law, in time, did confess
in the House of Commons that the tax had applied to Co-operative
societies in a way that was not intended, which must have
been true when it is observed that a society's " profits " might
be greater in amount than before, owing to the increased prices,
■while the rate of profit was lower. As it was, the Co-operators
contended that the tax should operate as a means of keeping
down prices, whereas, as the Government designed it, it was meant
as a source of revenue, and did not lower prices except in Co-
operative stores. Besides, Co-operators felt that the dividends
Tvhich went to them on purchases were equivalent to a reduction in
price, and as the society could not make profit out of itself,
there was no just reason why the tax should be imposed upon
them even if the rate of dividend rose. The traders, the
Chambers of Commerce, and even the Convention of Scottish
Burghs, all combined, however, to demand that Income Tax
in addition should be imposed upon dividends.
The constant irritation arising from the disposition of the
Government to ignore the consumers' big Co-operative
organisation led to one important change in Co-operative poUcy.
228 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Referring to these matters at the September meeting in 1916,
the president declared: "We must organise the Co-operative
vote in such a way as will force the Government to listen to
our demands." Six months later, in April 1917, the Scottish
National Co-operative Conference declared for pohtical action ;
at the annual Co-operative Congress at Swansea in the same
year the whole movement similarly decreed for political action.
The Government's methods still tended in the same direction ;
a special emergency conference was called in London later in
the year, at which the constitution of the Co-operative
political organisation was drawn up ; in 1918 the first
Co-operative candidate had fought on the Co-operative ticket
alone in a Parliamentary election, and in 191 8 three Co-operative
candidates contested Scottish constituencies in the General
Election — ^Mr H. J. May in Clackmannan, Mr J. M. Biggar in
Paisley, and Mr Peter Malcolm in Kilmarnock. Thus the
Government's contumelious methods during the war drove the
Co-operative movement to do what it had persistently dechned
to do during a period of twenty years in which the advisabihty
of using the political weapon had been discussed. It did more,
for while the movement had discussed a proposal by Mr Maxwell
for a fusion of Co-operation with other forces aiming at the
emancipation of the workers, the Co-operative Congress, in
1 91 7 at Swansea, and the Trade Unions Congress in the same
year set up a national advisory council of Co-operators and
trade unionists, the members of which were appointed by the
Central Board of the Co-operative Union and the Parliamentary
Committee of the Trade Unions Congress ; while the Scottish
National Co-operative Conference formulated a constitution for
a Scottish Co-operative and Labour Council on which Co-
operators were appointed by the S.C.W.S. and the Scottish
Sectional Board of the Co-operative Union, trade union
representatives were appointed by the Parliamentary Committee
of the Scottish Trade Unions Congress, and members were also
appointed by the Scottish Labour Party. The first result of
these creations was seen in the close co-operation of Co-operators,
trade unionists, and Labourists at Parliamentary and local
elections ; while any other matter of common interest to these
bodies was within the scope of their charter from the constituent
assemblies of all three movements in Scotland.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 229
Societies in Scotland that did best for their members and
which attracted most recruits readily acknowledged that they
had been able to do so because of the great strength of the
Wholesale Society. How the Wholesale benefited the societies
is best indicated by the fact that in the first four years of war
the membership of the retail societies increased by 115,000 — ■
an increase greater than had been registered in the ten years
preceding the war, although as the years advanced the field for
recruiting grew more and more restricted.
The five years of war brought troubles apart from those
for which the war was responsible. In February of 1915
Chancelot Mill was involved in a fire. Damage was done to the
extent of nearly £1,000 ; but in view of the disaster that might
have resulted, the Society's shareholders were happy to have
escaped so lightly. The directors were periodically criticised
for being affiliated with organisations like the masters in the
printing and kindred trades and several Chambers of Commerce.
The view was generally held that nothing was to be gained
from association with such bodies, and the board's only
justification for membership of the Chambers of Commerce, like
that of other members of such bodies, was that it was in their
trade interests. In most cases, however, their connection with
such bodies ceased. So far as the masters' federations were
concerned, the board had little option as some of the larger
trade unions would only deal with bodies representing all the
employers ; but where possible the board has kept free from
entanglements with such associations.
Death made further inroads upon the directorate. Mr James
Wilson, who had been a member of the board since 1908, and
who had had a varied Co-operative experience, was seized with
a heart attack in London, but he was able to be conveyed home
to Dunfermhne where he died in January 1914. A man of
regular and temperate habits, he was not averse to work while
his strength lasted, and notwithstanding his searching criticisms
and readiness for debate, some of his best and most intimate
friends were those who were oftenest measuring blades with
him. His successor was the treasurer of the Dunfermline
Society, Mr John Bardner. Mr John Macintyre, who had been
a director from 1877 till 1882, and who had been manager of
the potato department of the S.C.W.S. till his retirement in
230 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
1914, passed away before Christmas of that year. Mr Peter
Glasse, a Trojan worker in his day, passed away in March 1917.
Mr Glasse was in fighting form till a few weeks before his death,
when he had an experience such as had been common to him.
He had acted as a sort of godfather to the Society's retail branch
at Aberfoyle, and at his suggestion a good deal of propaganda
had been engaged in in the district. A lecture and concert,
and a distribution of samples of Co-operative productions, had
been arranged for Bucklyvie in February. The haU was
secured, and on the day preceding the event Colonel Crawford,
who had control of the hall, gave orders that the meeting could
proceed only on the understanding that there must be no
speeches on behalf of Co-operation: The meeting was abandoned
in consequence of this order. Mr W. C. Anderson, at the
request of the Glasgow Civil Liberties Committee, asked in
Parliament, on 19th March, as to the authority for such
procedure ; but no answer was forthcoming, except that the
matter would be inquired into. A year or two earlier such a
happening would have given life to Mr Glasse ; but his death
took place on the day following Mr Anderson's question. The
vacancy in the board was filled by the election of Mr Hugh
Campbell, the secretary of Cowlairs Society, who had long been
a regular attender at Wholesale meetings. The election was
noteworthy, for it produced the first woman candidate for the
board in the person of Miss Clarice M'Nab, the daughter of
Mr T. C. M'Nab, a former director ; but her total vote was
only 98, which gave her sixth place in the first ballot against
Mr Campbell's 333.
Meanwhile progress was being made at a phenomenal rate.
Despite the war, properties and possessions were being
multiplied. Retail branches* were opened at West Barns and
Buckie in 1914. In connection with the latter it is worthy of
note that efforts had been made by another body to organise
the fishing population on the East coast on lines which were
not satisfactory. The idea was that the fishermen, by paying
a subscription, would be entitled to a card which, on its being
presented at certain shops in coast towns, would secure them
a special discount. It was not a new idea. It had been
practised before ; but it did not eliminate the interest of private
* See Descriptive Section.
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 231
profit as Co-operative trading did. The scheme was resented,
and exposed in the Co-operative News because of its unco-
operative character and because, while the body promoting
the scheme professed to be friendly to the Co-operative
movement, it attempted to inaugurate this scheme when the-
S.C.W.S. had agreed to establish retail stores at Buckie,,
Peterhead, and Banff, and had already its propagandist in
Buckie enrolling purchasers and making the preliminary
arrangements. The promoters and the Co-operative Union
had some correspondence on the subject, and no more was heard
of that unco-operative venture. The retail branch at Aberfoyle
was opened in March 1915, and the Forres, Banff, and Peterhead
branches followed very shortly afterwards. A grain buying
depot was opened, and the Crichie meal miU, at Fyvie, was
acquired in 1915 ; property being secured in Dall Street and
Poplar Lane, Leith, before the close of the year. In 1916
additional ground was bought at Shieldhall, and at last land
was bought in Canada for grain-growing purposes. This was
the Weitzen farms at Forgan (Sask.), extending to 10,000 acres.
It was bought as a joint property for the two Wholesale
Societies ; but it was only intended as the first instalment of
Co-operative grain-growing land ; and a small instalment it
was, for it was calculated that the S.C.W.S. alone would require
about 250,000 acres to grow the grain needed for its own mills.
Nevertheless it was a beginning, and the removal of obstacles
in the way of shipping and importing may see further additions
to the Wholesale's Canadian possessions. It had even been
proposed in 1915, at the June meeting, that the Wholesale
should acquire ships for its own overseas trade ; and there was
a healthy discussion on this proposal, which emanated from the
Douglas Water Society. This big question was remitted to the
directors ; but war conditions made it then impossible to regard
the project as at all practical. An important venture was the
purchase of the Taybank jute works* in 1917, which brought
another new industry to the Wholesale. The purchase of the
Springside estate at West Kilbride (1917), ground at Crookston
Street, Glasgow (1918), additional ground at Bladnoch (1918),
Girtrig meal mill, Ayrshire {1918), additional creameries in
Wigtownshire and Ballymoney (Ireland), and ground in
* See Descriptive Section.
'232 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
.Scotland Street, Glasgow (1918), also showed how the Wholesale
-was preparing for greater activities when the period of
reconstruction dawned.
Greater preparations were being made, for the directors of
the two Wholesale Societies had been considering the question
of closer working agreements, and, in 1916, they were even
approaching the question of amalgamation. The S.C.W.S.
delegates raised no serious objection to these deliberations so
long as the directors recognised that the S.C.W.S. could not
he committed to amalgamation without the consent of the
shareholders. The directors fully realised that. There was a
growing desire in the minds of the C.W.S. to get closer to the
Scottish Wholesale in connection with joint productive efforts.
The Scottish Wholesale directors, on their part, were exceedingly
anxious to do all they possibly could to assist the C.W.S.
directors, as the C.W.S. were wiUing to assist them ; because it
was for the welfare of the movement. The S.C.W.S. were
associated with the C.W.S. in Ceylon and India, and also in
Africa ; a deputation had gone to Canada, and the C.W.S. had
made the request that they should be allowed to appoint
representatives to accompany that deputation with a view to
co-operating with the S.C.W.S. The working agreements were
linking up great interests, and many post-war schemes were
being planned.
The deputation which went to Canada and the United States
in 1916 represented the two Wholesales — ^Messrs W. Lander,
Ti G. Arnold, A. H. Hobley, and James Lord from the C.W.S.,
and Messrs T. B. Stirling, J. Bardner, and W. F. Stewart from
the S.C.W.S. It was on their joint recommendation that the
Weitzen farm was purchased, but they also recommended the
fusion of the interests of the two societies in Canada and the
United States. These proposals had been considered by the
two boards, and were further considered; and a draft of a
proposed agreement was discussed at the September meeting
in 1917. The agreement was simply an extension of the
existing partnership which covered the tea warehouse in London,
the cocoa works at Luton, the tea estates in Ceylon and Southern
India, and the branch at Accra (West Africa). It was proposed
to provide a new agreement to cover the S.C.W.S. Winnipeg
depot, the wheat elevators and investments in Canada ; Weitzen
THE LAST DECADE AND THE GREATEST 233
iarm (Canada) ; the C.W.S. depots at Montreal and New York ;
Ihe S.C.W.S. property, leases, and land concessions at Dominose
and Ayenasu (Gold Coast) ; the C.W.S. property, leases, and
land concessions at Sierra Leone and Lagos ; and the C.W.S.
African oil mill at Liverpool. The tea agreement provided that
■the C.W.S. should provide three-fourths of the capital required,
and the S.C.W.S. one-fourth ; and that the representation on
the committee of management should be in the same pro-
portions. The S.C.W;S. directors had decided, by a majority,
"that the same arrangement should cover the interests now
proposed to be included. There was a minority of the board
-which thought that capital and representation should be equal
from both societies, and these terms were discussed when the
proposal came before the quarterly meeting. In the end a
decision was delayed, on the motion of Mr D. H. Gerrard, and
a vigorous discussion was carried on in the Co-operative Press
for the better part of three months. The S.C.W.S. president
■was very strong in urging that after the war it would be
necessary to link up with the interests of the C.W.S. in Spain,
Denmark, Montreal, and New York, in a way in which they
had not been Unked up in the past. The S.C.W.S. had no
money invested in these, and it was only as a matter of courtesy
that the C.W.S. consulted them regarding butter from Denmark,
fniit from Spain, and other such matters. They were charged
for a share of the expense, and there was a commission charge ;
but that was all. The board thought there should be some
proper agreement that would hnk up all these various agencies.
When the matter came before the December quarterly meeting
there was a battle royal on the question of representation and
■capital, Mr Gallacher putting the case for the minority on the
board ; but by 600 votes against 164 the terms of the agreement
were approved, and thus the S.C.W.S. delegates gave their
impetus to a big movement with almost unlimited possibilities.
It is fitting to close this chapter with a reference to the
increases which had been recorded to the credit of the Wholesale
Society during the last and greatest decade of the five repre-
sented by its fifty years and the first decade of the new
president's regime. Every year of the decade had marked a
big onward stride, for the success of the Wholesale in catering
to advantage for the retail societies had increased the membership
234 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of these societies, and that in turn created a demand for fresh
enterprise on the part of the S.C.W.S. During the ten years,
covered by the chapter, the shares held by societies^ — one for
each member — ^had increased by 204,334 ; the shares held by
employees had increased by 11,585 ; the capital by £2,481,523 ;
and the net sales by £11,685,637. During the ten years the-
" profits " available for distribution to the purchasers amounted
to no less than £3,736,987. It was a remarkable advance ; for,
while prices were higher, there was a great clearance of healthy
young Co-operators into the Army, and their supplies were not
required from the Co-operative stores ; but there was also an
enormous increase in the quantity of the goods sold. The
amount of the increase in sales, £11,685,637, is higher than the
total amount of sales for the year 1915 when the S.C.W.S. had
been forty-seven years in existence. The increase was accounted
for by the fact that Co-operation had been discovered to be a
bulwark of defence for the consumer. As for the directors who
conducted these great operations, it could not be alleged against
them that they were feathering their nests. Once, in the course
of the war, it was proposed to increase their salaries ; but the
proposal was disapproved of by the delegates. It was renewed
in 1 916 when the directors received increases which gave the
president £400, the secretary £375, and the directors £300 each
when the trade was about 14J millions per annum. In March
1918 each was granted a war bonus of £50 per annum which
brought the emoluments up to £450 for the president, £425 for
the secretary, and £350 for the directors — ^approximately 40 per
cent, over pre-war rates.*
* In March 1919 the War Bonus was increased by ;£100, and later in
the year the bonus was merged in salaries and a further increase voted
which made the salaries of the president and secretary ;£600 and of the
directors £500.
XIV.
A JUBILEE YEAR VIEW OF " THE WHOLESALE.'"
A MONUMENT TO THE ABILITY OF THE WORKING-CLASSES — THE SENSE OF
COLLECTIVE INTEREST, OWNERSHIP, AND SAFETY — THE WHOLESALE'S.
CAPITAL AND RESERVES — HOW WISE DEPRECIATION HAS STRENGTHENED
THE ASSETS — GIGANTIC TRADE AND THE RETURN TO THE PURCHASER — -
THE SOCIETY'S WIDESPREAD RAMIFICATIONS — CO-OPERATIVE IMMUNITY
FROM BAD DEBTS — THE MEN WHO DIRECT THE BUSINESS — THE
employees' VOICE IN THE CONTROL OF AFFAIRS — SUPREMACY OF THE
" QUARTERLY MEETING " — VOTING RIGHTS DETERMINED BY PURCHASES.
AND NOT BY CAPITAL INVESTED.
The foregoing chapters have described the steps by which the
S.C.W.S. became what it was in its Jubilee year, and so far as
possible they have attempted to indicate the conceptions of
the men and women who worked for its establishment and for
its progress. We have come to the stage when we have to
attempt to present to the reader a picture of what the Scottish
Co-operative Wholesale Society is after fifty years of labour
by those who deemed it an essential part of the machinery by
which consumers might protect themselves from exploitation
and ease their economic burdens. If, before the end of the
chapter is reached, readers not interested in Co-operation feel
tempted to say that greater concerns have been created in
shorter periods, we must beg them to remember that the-
S.C.W.S. was the creation of men of the same class that
created the smallest village store of which the reader has any
knowledge. They were men, except in rare cases, whose income
never rose above the pittance paid to the artisan or the labourer,
and sometimes the irregularly employed artisan or labourer.
They could not save much money because more than they
earned was required for food, and, not having money or
possessions of their own, they could not call up large amounts
of capital as some of the get-rich-quick company promoters of
to-day can. There were cases in which money would have been
236 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
advanced to these men by employers and others because of
their own sterling character, but help of that kind was regarded
as derogatory and was never sought or accepted except in very
few cases.* In the case of the Wholesale Society there was no
money from such sources ; and, as we have pointed out in the
story of the Wholesale at the period of the Ironworks disaster,
ordinary trade credit was sometimes refused to the S.C.W.S.
This has to be borne in mind when contemplating the structure
of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society.
Allowing for these handicaps, the S.C.W.S. is an organisation
which wealthy, educated, and successful business men would
be happy to call their own, and is an organisation to which the
Co-operators of Scotland point with the greatest possible pride.
It is a great distributive agency which regards no commodity,
-except alcoholic Uquor, as outwith its scope, and there are few
commodities it does not supply to its shareholding societies.
At the end of the Jubilee year it had 261 members (all registered
societies), which held 597,883 shares on the basis of one share
(20/) per member of each society ; besides which 25,791 shares
(20/) were held by the Society's own employees. Of the total
share capital only £2,583, iis. id. remained unpaid. The total
paid-up share capital of the Society, therefore, amounted to
£621,090, 8s. iid. If by any mishap that were lost no individual
Co-operator would lose more than 20/, and it is this sense of
■collective interest and ownership and safety which gives strength
and prestige to the S.C.W.S. A society or an employee, appl5dng
for shares — which are transferable and not withdrawable — must
deposit not less than one shilling on each share taken. The
unpaid portion of the shares may be paid up from dividend or
interest; but any member may pay up shares in full or in part at
any time. No member whose shares are not fully paid up] is
allowed to withdraw either dividend or interest. By these
methods the £621,090 of share capital has been accumulated.
That would not be sufficient capital to run a business of the
dimensions of the S.C.W.S., and the Wholesale therefore relies
upon the loan capital, or deposits, entrusted to it by its members
■and employees — and to a limited extent by non-members. f
These deposits amounted to £3,925,205, us. 9d. at the end of
* The number may be regarded as less than a dozen in Scotland.
t I.e., members of retail societies.
A JUBILEE YEAR VIEW OF THE WHOLESALE 257-
1918, and were, of course, at the call of the owners either on
demand or at six months' notice of withdrawal. The rates of
interest, which are fixed by the members, vary according to the
category in which the capital is placed by the depositor ; but
in 1918 the rates paid were : members' share capital, 5 per cent. ;
employees' share capital, 5 per cent. ; members' deposits, six
months' notice, 4^ per cent. ; at call, 3 per cent. ; employees'
deposits, six months' notice, 4I per cent. ; one month, 3I per
cent. ; deposits from members of retail societies, six months,
4 per cent. ; one month, 3 per cent. These funds are available
for the business of the Society ; but, in addition, the Society
has reserve and insurance funds which amounted to £1,227,273,
7s. 6^d. Of this sum, £607,093, i6s. id. belonged to the
reserve fund proper. This fund was inaugurated at the
commencement of the Society, and, almost from the beginning,!
it has been a rule that ^d. per £ on the net sales should be
allocated to this reserve, which must only be used for business
purposes. When opportunity has arisen, additional sums have
been added till, as the figures given show, the reserve fund was
only £13,996, I2S. lod. short of the £621,090, 8s. iid. of share
capital — a. fact that gives the Co-operative societies additional
confidence in the Wholesale. The insurance funds of £410,214,
OS. 6d. are also included in the total reserves. These funds
have been accruing since 1879, when the first sum was set aside
chiefly for the insurance of sea-borne goods. The fire insurance
fund covers a percentage of all the risks to which the Society
is exposed, and even the whole risk is taken in certain cases.
Stocks not covered by the Society's policy are insured under
this fund. The marine insurance fund covers all the risks of
coastwise freight, and it may cover risks on ships from foreign
ports up to a limit of £750 for any one vessel. The accident
and employers' liability funds cover the Society's liability for
accidents to officials injured while travelling on the Society's
business or to workers pursuing their ordinary employment.
The guarantee fund was instituted to cover losses due to any
defalcations on the part of employees entrusted with the
handHng of money. The funds are raised by premiums charged
against each of the departments, and interest on the total fund
is also added each half-year. The amount of the premiums for
the last half-year of 1918 was £514, 4s. 6d.
■238 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The balance-sheet* for the half-year which ended in
December 1918 showed assets to the amount of £6,774,794,
13s. 8id., which showed a surplus of £1,231,163, 14s. 4|d. over
the liabilities. That is a healthy state of affairs, but it scarcely
reflects the full strength of the Society's position, for the Society's
rules provide for a depreciation of not less than 5 per cent, on
buildings, 20 per cent, on hve stock, and 10 per cent, on
fixtures. From the Society's commencement it has expended
£107,582, OS. 3d. on land ; £1,330,475, 4s. 7d. on buildings ;
and £821,062, I2s. 4d. on plant, etc. — a total of £2,259,119,
17s. 2d. This has been depreciated to the extent of
£1,567,392, los. 6d., and the value of these assets on the books
•of the Society to-day is only £693,848, 19s. id., or considerably
less than a third of the value. In this connection it has to be
remembered that much of the land the Society owns has
appreciated in value, and that a good deal of the property
included in this value is comparatively new, and the process
of "writing off " has not operated long so far as it is concerned.
The best example of depreciation is provided by the palatial
central preftiises in Glasgow. These have cost £156,000, but
they are included in the assets as having a nominal value of
-only £24,062. The expenses of management, interest on
capital and deposits, reserve fund, and depreciation are provided
for before the net profit is declared. From the net profit ij per
cent, is allocated to the special fund from which donations to
charitable, social, or other purposes of public of Co-operative
utUity are voted. The balance is divided in proportion to
purchases, non-members receiving half the rate of dividend
allowed to members.
The financial stabiUty the figures quoted show has proved
to be a great boon to the people of Scotland who share in the
-operations of this great concern which does a trade which,
•growing year by year at an amazing rate, reached £19,216,762,
i8s. 7d. in the Jubilee year, and which yielded the members
a return of £481,318, os. 8Jd. of net profit, divided among them
in proportion to their purchases. During its fifty years the
Society's sales amounted to £226,561,172, 7s. 6d., on which
the net profits, allocated as above, were £7,767,552, 2s. 8Jd.,
which went to swell the dividends paid by the retail societies
* See Appendix IX.
A JUBILEE YEAR VIEW OF THE WHOLESALE 239
or, as it happened in many cases, helped to reduce prices
charged to the members of these societies. The Society which
made its humble beginning as a productive concern in 1882,
and which had a productive output of the value of only
^4,094 in 1883, reckoned its productive output for 1918 at
^5,180,602, IS. 2d.
The modest men who pioneered the Wholesale Society
never conceived, even in their most extravagant dreams, that
in fifty short years their Society would be selling goods to the
value of igi millions and producing goods in its own factories
to the value of over 5 millions a year ; but their creation had
reached that stage when its Jubilee was celebrated. The
Society has its creameries and its milk-collecting centres ;*
its pig-breeding establishments and its sausage factories ; its
palm-growing land in West Africa and its soap and margarine
factories ; its grain-growing land (in partnership with the
C.W.S.) and the largest milling establishments in Scotland,
the Chancelot mill being the most handsome flour mill in
Britain, and the Regent miU an historic relic of the Stuart
days. The Society spins its wool and its jute in its own mills,
and weaves its own cloth. It startled the War Office by
accepting an order for thousands of uniforms, and undertaking
to spin the yam, weave the cloth, and make the suits under
its own roofs. It made hundreds of thousands of uniforms for
soldiers of our own and the Allied armies. It has its own
tannery, where it makes at least part of the leather used in its
own boot factories. It owns (with the C.W.S.) substantial tea
«states. It cures its own fish, and may, before long, own its
own fishing fleet. It builds motor vehicles for its distributive
trade, and the trade of its shareholders. It has its own box-
making department, in which it produces its packing-cases, and
also manufactures cardboard boxes, paper bags, and tinware
goods ; and its own building department erects its factories
and its warehouses and its offices. It is prepared to do all
the banking and insurance and trade of the half million
Co-operators in Scotland and their famihes.
It has had some bad debts in its time ; but, to the credit
of the Co-operators of Scotland, it has to be said that these,
* These departments are all dealt with separately in the Descriptive
Section.
240 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
on a trade of 2264 millions during fifty years, amounted to-
only £10,677, I2S. 2d., or I'isd. per £100 of sales. That is a
record of which Co-operators are specially proud. Cash trading
is the Co-operative ideal ; but there are difficulties in the way
of adhering to strictly cash terms in a big business like the
Wholesale's. The S.C.W.S. only grants a maximum credit of
fourteen days. Accounts outstanding in excess of fourteen
days are charged interest at the rate of 2| per cent., and in
cases where the debt exceeds one month's purchases the rate. of
interest charged is 5 per cent. In order to save themselves
from this charge, societies may prepay accounts, in which case
the Wholesale allows interest to the Society at the rate of
2^ per cent.
Who are the men who are responsible for the conduct of
this business ? The shareholders are working-people in the
retail societies who cannot afford to be exploited, and they
naturally place this great business of theirs under the control
of those whom they can trust as directors. These directors
are twelve working-men Uke themselves who have the
Co-operative conscience and who have acquired Co-operative
ideas and experience. Of the twelve directors who piloted the
Society through the Jubilee year, two were carpenters tiU their
fellows called them from the bench to the boardroom, two were
Co-operative store managers, two filled clerical appointments
with Co-operative societies, one was a miner, one was an
insurance agent, one was an engineer, one a tool-setter, one a
mason, and another a moulder. In respect of vocations the
board of the Jubilee year was typical of the boards that had
gone before, except that in the earlier years the directors
attended to their jobs by day and attended to the Wholesale's
business by night. These directors are elected by the share-
holding societies for a period of two years, at the end of which
period they come up for re-election ; but the shareholders who
call these men from their trades are never disposed to oppose
them seriously when their period for re-election comes round,
and since 1905 there has been no candidate pitted against a
retiring director. The elections are arranged so that only three
retire at one time, and the continuity of direction and poUcy
is therefore provided for. The president is elected ad hoc, as
also is the secretary, and the other members are elected as
THE DRAPERY WAREHOUSE
WS'''! J^ ' ^ ^^r\ 11 II. J
OLD FRONT, WALLACE STREET
NEW FRONT, MORRISON STREET
THE DRAPERY WAREHOUSE
SHIRTINGS, SHAWLS, AND DELAINES DEPARTMENT
GENTS' SHIRT AND COLLAR DEPARTMENT
A JUBILEE YEAR VIEW OF THE WHOLESALE 241
" directors." The only condition essential to render a nomina-
tion valid is that the person nominated (man or woman) shall
have been, at the time of nomination, a hona-fide purchasing
member, for at least five years, in societies enrolled as members
of the S.C.W.S. Canvassing in any form by, or on behalf of,
a candidate is a disqualification. The board resolves itself
into three committees, the president being ex officio a member
of each. The committees are as follows. The property and
finance committee consists of four members, two of whom
act as conveners for property and finance respectively. This
committee supervises all matters relating to the various
properties and financial arrangements of the Society. The
grocery committee consists of four members, two of whom
are conveners. This committee supervises all grocery distri-
butive departments, with the allied productive departments.
The drapery and furnishing committee consists of four members,
two of whom are conveners. This committee supervises the
drapery, furniture, and boot departments, with their aUied'
productive works. The board meets as a general committee
weekly ; receives reports "from the various conveners, and deals
authoritatively with any matters which have been receiving
the attention of the sub-committees during the previous week.
The directors are responsible to the shareholders for the proper
conduct and control of all the business of the Society in
accordance with the rules registered under the Industrial and
Provident Societies Acts, and the shareholders' delegates who
appear at the quarterly meetings usually take care that the
directors answer for anything that requires explanation.
The membership of the Society is open to all Co-operative
societies registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies
Acts, subject to the approval of the quarterly meeting.
Objection is sometimes taken to the admission of a new society
member, but on such occasions it is usually due to the rules
or objects of the society being contrary to Co-operative
principles as understood by the S.C.W.S. and the Co-operative
Union, or because the new society represents an undesirable
secession from another society.* The employees of the
Wholesale are also entitled to hold shares, but no employee
shareholder may have less than five or more than fifty shares.
* See page 208 et seq.
Q
242 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The rules of the S.C.W.S. provide that the Employees'
Shareholding Association may send one representative to the
quarterly meetings for every 150 employees who are share-
holders. In 1918 the 25,791 employees' shares were held by
675 employees. The quarterly meeting of the members is the
supreme authority in the Wholesale Society. To this meeting
each shareholding society is entitled to send one delegate in
virtue of membership, so that the amount of capital held yields
no voting advantage to any society. AU societies have not
equal voting rights ; but the difference in voting rights is
determined not by a society's investments but by its purchases.
The basis of voting has been altered from time to time owing
to the growth of the attendances at quarterly meetings ; but
the rules, as altered in 1915, prescribed that, in addition to the
vote allowed in virtue of membership, each society shall have
an additional vote for the first £1,500 worth of goods purchased
and one other additional vote for every complete £3,000 worth
of goods purchased from the Wholesale thereafter. Proxy
voting is not allowed. In this way dead capital is prevented
from dominating the business of the Wholesale ; and the
societies with the heaviest capital investments acquiesce in this
arrangement which secures to a shareholding society voting
power in proportion to its loyalty to the concern.
The employees at the end of the Jubilee year numbered
3,081 males and 3,436 females, whose total wages for the year
amounted to £763,894, 19s. 6d.*
* For salaries of Directors, see page 234.
XV.
THE ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE.
HOW SOCIETIES AND THEIR MEMBERS HAVE GAINED — THE SAVINGS IN
DISTRIBUTION AND PRODUCTION — REGULARITY OF SUPPLIES MAIN-
TAINED ON EQUITABLE PRINCIPLES — FOOD AS AN ECONOMIC FACTOR
— FULL WEIGHT PACKAGES MADE COMPULSORY THROUGH S.C.W.S.
AGITATION — PROTECTION AGAINST TRUSTS FOR PRODUCER AND
CONSUMER — A LESSON FROM WEST AFRICA — THE WOMAN WITH THE
BASKET AS AN INFALLIBLE JUDGE — CONTROL OF MONEY AS WELL AS
COMMODITIES — A SOURCE OF STRENGIH IN TIMES OF NATIONAL CRISIS
— WHAT THE S.C.W.S. DID IN THE GREAT WAR — A MENACE TO THE
PROFITEER — THE WHOLESALE'S RELATIONS WITH ITS EMPLOYEES.
In the Jubilee year view presented in the preceding chapter
"we saw what the S.C.W.S. was in terms of possessions and trade.
The reader vnll be justified in reminding us, if he thinks it
necessary, that ornamental buildings do not butter the bread
of the men and women on, or below, or a little above the
poverty Une, and that the extent of a warehouse or the
excellence of a factory's equipment need not speU an easier
lot for the workers employed there. We do not need to be
reminded of either proposition. The promoters of the earliest
Co-operative venture, as we saw in our references to Fenwick
in the earlier chapters, were driven to Co-operative methods
in order to make their earnings go further than they did in
the privately owned shops. The early productive societies
sought to sweeten the burden of labour. Rochdale aimed at
both reforms, and the ideals of Rochdale have been the guiding
code for the Co-operative movement during the whole period
covered by the S.C.W.S. If these ideals were pursued by the
societies which formed the constituent parts of the S.C.W.S.,
we should expect to find them also the governing ideals of the
S.C.W.S. itself. If the S.C.W.S. has not lightened the lot of
the worker, or made the earnings of Co-operators go further
than they would have done otherwise, the S.C.W.S. will have
failed in its economic mission. If it has not brought a new
244 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
spirit into the industrial and trading and social relations of
men, it will have failed in its social mission. The men who-
are responsible for the direction of the affairs of the Wholesale
are quite ready to be judged by these criteria, and they are
quite confident as to what the judgment will be.
We wiU leave the social influence of the S.C.W.S. for the
present and examine what its economic influence has been.
The members of the retail societies began to co-operate
in order that their earnings might be made to go a little
further. They entrusted those earnings to their societies in
order that the societies might procure food and other
necessaries for them. Those societies had to lay out those
funds in procuring food from merchants tiU it was borne in upon
them that they, too, might make that money go a little further
by co-operating as their members had done, and they formed
the S.C.W.S. The question is : Has their money gone further ?'
The answer is in the affirmative, and an emphatic affirmative.
In the very early days of the Co-operative movement, when
Co-operative societies were small and struggling and were
composed of men intimately acquainted with one another,,
there was a very close spirit of loyalty which would have borne
any sacrifices because they had the sterling faith of the
pioneers. The men engaged in pioneering any great reform,,
for the sake of reform, have that faith. The faith of the
Co-operators of fifty years ago was so strong that they over-
looked mistakes, even costly mistakes, because they knew they
were only feeling their way towards success which they believed
to be ultimately certain. While they were prepared to suffer
a Httle for their faith they found, nevertheless, that there was-
an economic advantage in their method even at that
experimental stage, and it won them fresh associates in growing^
numbers. The committee of an early Co-operative society
knew that they could count upon the " loyalty " of their
members. When the S.C.W.S. was in its infancy the same
loyalty was shown towards the Wholesale Society that was-
only feeUng its way towards success ; but, irrespective of the
trade brought by loyalty, advantages were secured by societies-
that they did not get when they were buying, each for itself,
from wholesale merchants. During its fifty years the Wholesale
Society has sold goods to the amount of 226J millions. The
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 245
" profits " derived from that trade amounted to yf millions.
In the capacity of purchasers the societies divided that
7f millions among them, and in the capacity of shareholders
they received interest on all the capital they had invested.
The representation at the shareholders' meetings is adapted to
meet the dual capacity, for while each society is entitled to
liave one representative present in virtue of membership, the
additional delegates (and votes) are fixed in proportion to
purchases.* The possible rate of dividend is hmited by the
amount of profit available, but within that limit the actual
rate is determined by the members, and the rates of interest
on investments are also determined by the members, acting
in both cases in the dual capacity of shareholders and
purchasers. The yf millions of " profits " returned to the
purchasing societies in proportion to their purchases represents
an economic saving, for that sum, in the operations of an
ordinary trading company, would have gone to the shareholders
at the expense of the purchasers. The interest on the capital
represents an economic gain to the societies also in more than
one way. The members of the retaU societies usually deposit
a small contribution towards capital when they join the society.
The balance of their capital is almost invariably contributed
by allowing the dividends on their purchases to accumulate.
The process of saving is so easy that they allow their dividends
■ to go on accumulating ; they do not feel any pinch by saving
in that fashion ; the interest is good and " the bank is safe,"
and so many Co-operators by that means have continued to
save till they have accumulated £200 — the most the law allows.
This is used by the society as trading capital so long as
necessary ; but the estabhshment of the S.C.W.S. gave the
retail societies an outlet for the surplus they did not require
for their own business, and they were thus able to invest the
money of the members to develop this big concern in the interests
of the members whose money otherwise would have gone into
ordinary banks to be used very often by other concerns whose
chief function was to make money out of the people.
It must not be assumed, as it often is very wrongly, that
the 7f millions of distributed " profit " is arrived at by the
Wholesale charging more than other people. It is usually
* See page 242.
246 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
assumed that it is so because Co-operators say " all profit is an
overcharge." Co-operative trading is conducted to supply
known wants, not to make profit. The Co-operative view of
trade, whether the trade of a Co-operative society or of a
capitalist company, is that the surplus which remains, after
meeting the cost of goods, interest on capital, the remuneration,
of labour (the labour of the director and the labour of the
charwoman ahke), and aU other expenses, is an overcharge
which properly and morally belongs to the purchaser. In
private trade that surplus is " profit " which goes into the
pockets of the shareholders. The difference constitutes the
Co-operative case for the non-taxation of Go-operative dividends
(as distinct from interest, wliich is taxed). If in the early day&
of the Wholesale it had been necessary, because of the
inexperience of buyers or any other similar reason, to charge
more for goods than other merchants, the societies might have
tolerated it for a time till the Wholesale learned how to sell
cheaper. The societies would not do that now. They would
insist upon the directors engaging more competent buyers ; and,
if that did not happen, they would probably replace the
directors as their time for re-election came round. It is worthy
of note, however, that during the years in which the Wholesale
Society made its biggest advances the stores had to face the
keenest competition. The multiple shop had come ; it wa&
wiping out the small trader with a relentlessness that made
the small trader look more kindly upon the Co-operative store
than he had ever done. The growth in Co-operative membership
was very marked. The new members were not all inspired with
Co-operative ideals — some had no conception whatever of
Co-operative ideals. Prices were rising, and the people were
concerned about getting their necessaries at the best prices.
The stores had to sell as cheaply as competitors or lose trade
of members and lose prospective new members. Keen selling
meant keen buying, and the stores had to buy in the best
market. Under these conditions the trade of the S.C.W.S. rose
in volume, but the percentage of the Wholesale's trade in
relation to the retail trade of the societies also rose; in the
first year of war it jumped 5 per cent, in comparison, and the
proportion rose from 45-54 per cent, in 1911 to 60-26 per cent,
in 1916. If it fell in 1917 by "75 per cent, it was because in
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 247
that year Government control of foodstuffs was considerably
extended, and various food commissions treated the Wholesale
Society in a fashion that is quite inexpUcable, and which led
to the developments outhned in Chapter XIII.* In viewing
these comparisons it must be remembered that there are some
directions in which the Wholesale does not yet cater for aU the
wants of its members. A society engaging in the milk trade
in a district remote from S.C.W.S. centres makes its own
arrangements with local farmers, and other examples might be
cited to explain a difference between a society's total purchases
and its purchases from the Wholesale, although these conditions
are gradually disappearing. In view of this increase in the
proportion of trade done it must be conceded that the
Wholesale's prices have been right, and that the societies have
foimd a substantial economic gain from trading with the
S.C.W.S. even beyond the interest on capital and the dividend
on purchases. This gain went to the members of these
societies. The member who purchased twenty shillings' worth
of goods, and received a 2/ dividend, found that under such
circumstances his twenty shiOings had the purchasing power of
twenty-two owing to the retail Co-operative system which was
fed and reinforced by the Wholesale Co-operative system.
It is of economic value, from a health point of view, that
supplies of necessaries should be maintained. When the great
ramp in prices began after the war broke out we read an
explanation of this in a Sunday paper which showed the
individuaUstic mind at its worst and laid bare the whole
purpose of speculative trading. It was explained that there
-was a shortage of suppHes, and the reason given for the rise
in prices was that if there is a limited supply below the normal,
and Wigan and Mayfair (they might have said the Calton and
PoUokshields if it had been a paper pubUshed in Scotland) both
want the goods, Wigan must pay what Mayfair is willing to pay,
and Mayfair will pay almost anything to get the goods. It was
not set down as a possible reason for the rise in prices ; it was
stated as an inexorable law making a rise unavoidable. That
is not the S.C.W.S. law. The S.C.W.S. would know from its
daily trading experience what the normal requirements of
Co-operators in Calton and PoUokshields respectively were ;
* See page 228.
248 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
the price would be fixed in the usual mathematical fashion, and,
if both districts could not be supplied with all they required,
each would get an equitable share. The price would not be
determined by the wiUingness of some to pay more than the fair
price for a cornered article, and the longer purse of Pollokshields
would not make it necessary for Calton to tighten its belt. The
S.C.W.S. during its fifty years has traded equitably. The
proprietors of the business are the purchasers of the goods,
but their voting strength, as we have mentioned, is determined
by their purchases and not by their capital. They are not
shareholders banded together to seU things to other people
and purchasing just to help the business ; they are purchasers
banded together to procure what they want, and they put in
capital in order to enable their Wholesale buyers to command,
or to manufacture, suppUes. The Wholesale Society, therefore,
does not speculate on the market ; it does not manufacture on
the chance of doing a big stroke of business. It buys or
produces what the retail societies actually want, and the
S.C.W.S. is made to know what these societies want. If it be
argued, as it sometimes is, that there is a stage in the
development of Co-operation when the extent of the society
reaches the hmit at which high-scale buying can effect no
further economies, the Wholessde has not reached that limit
yet. If it be argued also, as it sometimes is, that a retail
society — a member of the S.C.W.S. — can grow to such an
extent that it can buy as well for itself in the open market as
the S.C.W.S. can buy for it, that stage has not yet been
reached. Take, for example, the drapery trade, in which the
great warehouses in Glasgow and Edinburgh and elsewhere
are so bitterly in competition. St Cuthbert's Co-operative
Association, the largest Co-operative society in Scotland, with
a membership equal to a tenth of Scotland's total, takes a
seventh of the total goods sold by the • S.C.W.S. drapery
department — and it is quite well known to Co-operators that
St Cuthbert's dividend is the highest paid by any large society
in Great Britain. The members of St Cuthbert's know, as the
members of other societies know, that there is no prospect of
the S.C.W.S. taking advantage of them either in prices or in
quality of goods, for the simple reason that they themselves
are the Wholesale and they do control its operations through
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 249
their elected directors. The shop assistants who sell the goods
are kept fully up to scratch by the members of the local
societies who use the goods. If improvement is necessary the
members promptly tell them ; the shop assistants teU the buyers
Avho order the stocks ; the buyers lose no time about " taking
the matter up with the Wholesale " ; and, if representations
to the S.C.W.S. managers do not avail, the minutes of the
directors' meetings will probably contain some such item as :
" Interviewed deputation from a society With reference to
certain class of goods." A delegate at the quarterly meeting
will ask : " Mr Chairman, can you give us any information as
to what society this was and what the goods were ? " If any
grievance the society had has not been rectified before, the
directors have a few minutes' paternal advice and the law is
laid down. There is no doubt whatever about the reality of
the democratic control of the business of the S.C.W.S.
In one direction especially the S.C.W.S. has saved the
consumer. In the sale of prints of fresh butter, the custom
was to make prints in half-pound and quarter-pound sizes.
The store member usually asked for "a half-pound print " or
" a quarter-pound print," and the print supplied could be
relied upon to weigh fully what was asked for. In recent years
the practice grew up, in the competitive trade, of making prints
a little less weight than the customary prints. The small print
might weigh just over three ounces, and the larger print about
seven ounces, more or less. It made a difference in the price,
and the shops that sold these charged less for them than for
the full-weight prints. To do these traders justice it must be
stated that they did not sell by weight ; they charged so much
" per print " ; but people long accustomed to prints of a
certain weight were easily misled. In one Glasgow society
members complained that the price of a two-pound pot of jam
was higher in the store than in another shop in the district.
A pot was accordingly sent for, and on the gaudily printed
labels beside the weight there was printed in small letters the
word " nominal." In this case, too, the prices were marked,
not in terms of weight, but at so much " per pot " or " per jar " ;
but in this, too, people accustomed to regulation pots containing
certain weights were misled, although they had no recourse if
they found the jar contained less than they thought. In packet
250 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
teas, the custom of selling the packet by weight did grave
injustice to the consumer. A quarter-pound packet came to-
mean a packet weighing a quarter of a pound and not a packet
containing a quarter pound of tea. The S.C.W.S. resolutely-
eschewed such practices as these. Its fresh butter was in prints-
of half and quarter pounds, its jams and jelhes were in pots of
one or two pounds, its tea packets contained the quarter or half
pound as stated on the label. In conjunction with the C.W.S.,
the S.C.W.S. conducted a vigorous exposure of the tea packet
scandal. They proclaimed the fact that if they sold by gross
weight and charged as much per pound for the paper packet
as for the tea it contained their profits in one year would be
£200,000 more. The question was raised several times ia
Parliament. In 1917 Mr M. J. Flavin, one of the Irish members,
made trouble over the practice and brought out the fact —
admitted by Captain Bathurst, speaking for the Food
Controller — that one weU-known firm sold tea in 4-oz. packets
and that the weight of the wrapper was J oz. approximately,
but that the packet bore the announcement that its weight,
" inclusive of the wrapper," was 4 oz. He does not seem t&
have answered Mr Flavin's further question as to whether he
was aware that " paper is over 600 per cent, cheaper than tea."'
Mr Flavin, aided by Mr Will Thorne, returned to the point
several times tiU, eventually. Captain Bathurst announced that
on and after ist May 1917 it would be illegal to pack teas-
unless each package of two ounces and upwards contained the
net weight of tea mentioned on the package, and that, after
a later date (fixed to allow shopkeepers to clear stocks already
packed), it would be illegal to sell tea in packages unless under
similar conditions. Steps have since been taken to make these
regulations permanent even if the Food Ministry should be
allowed to lapse ; but people must not forget that the S.C.W.S.
and its sister federation are responsible for fair trade being"
made compulsory in respect of such packed goods. In tea, as-
in soap, the Wholesale Societies were instrumental in exposing
the system of giving presents with tea, or giving coupons
entitUng the purchaser to " gifts." The most shameful example
of the alleged " present " system was the pension tea scheme.
Under this scheme purchasers were to be entitled to pensions
when they became widows ; and the device proved so profitable
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 251
that the first claims were met, a fact which gave colour to the
scheme. It became impossible to meet the claims, and the
sequel was heard in 1905 in the law courts, where the hollowness
of the system was described by Mr Justice Buckley, who passed
strictures on the delusive and reckless promise of impossible
pensions. The story reached its close in 1909 when each widow
entitled to a pension of 10/ per week for Ufe got a lump sum of
32/. The exposure of the system, like the cessation of the
soap prize system, brought Co-operative purchasers to greater
faith in Co-operative methods.
The control exercised over the distributive departments by
the people who buy the goods is also exercised over the
productive departments of the S.C.W.S. It is a tribute to the
value of these productions that in the Jubilee year the S.C.W.S.
produced 3T42 per cent, of the goods it sold, despite the
difficulty of procuring materials in a number of industries.
In the year before the war, when the Wholesale productions
were less all round in proportion to Wholesale trade, the
cabinet factory produced 77 per cent, of the furniture sold by
the S.C.W.S. In the same year the Society manufactured
90 per cent, of the Scotch tweed it sold. Excluding some
classes of shoes and slippers not made in the kingdom but in
fair demand, and a very cheap class of inferior boot the
production of which ought not to be encouraged and which
the S.C.W.S. would spoil its reputation by manufacturing, the
output of boots and shoes from the S.C.W.S. factories
represented 80 per cent, of the total possible.* There are large
societies in the most keenly competitive trading areas — some
of the largest and most prosperous societies in Scotland — ^which
seU only S.C.W.S. tobacco, S.C.W.S. soap, and S.C.W.S. flour
and meal, while others similarly Umit their stocks to other
S.C.W.S. productions. These productions are not made to any
hard and fast uniformity — except uniformity of quality and
workmanship. In the boot trade, for example, the S.C.W.S.
has to cater for a large variety of tastes and for a large variety
of feet, but it is questionable if there is another factory in the
country which produces such a variety of styles and sizes.
The " size " of the boot required by a purchaser is measured
in the boot shop by the rule with a sliding gauge which fixes;
* statistics from a paper by Mr A. S. Huggan, S.C.W.S. Ltd.
252 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
the " size " by the length of the foot, but it would seem as
if the S.C.W.S. worked out designs for almost every possible
variation of each size. The same variety is found in the
readymade clothing departments, including shirts. The
economic value contained in goods that give comfort and
pleasure, and goods that last, is very considerable, and the
evidence that this economic value is there is provided by the
growth of the S.C.W.S. productive trade. . In the productive
trade, as well as in the wholesale trade pure and simple, the
prices are an important factor, and we have the tribute of
the managers of the retail stores who generally acknowledge
that the Wholesale serves them better than others would. It
is contended by opponents of Co-operation that the retail
managers automatically give their orders to the Wholesale,
relying upon the fact that the business belongs to the society ;
and that the relations between the Wholesale and retail
societies lead to indifference on the part of the managers of
the retail societies, who are freed from the necessity of watching
the markets. An hour spent in the S.C.W.S. salerooms on the
mornings when the retail buyers attend, and presence at the
conversations which these gentlemen have with the Wholesale
salesmen, would dispel such an illusion. The managers and
buyers of retail societies are as conscientious and as alert as
the gentlemen who occupy similar positions under the
competitive system. " As iron sharpeneth iron " their alertness
keeps the S.C.W.S. buyers and managers alert ; and if, as some
anti-Co-operators in trading circles appear to think, the buyers
and managers of both Wholesale and retail societies engage in
some unholy alliance to fleece unsuspecting victims who become
members of Co-operative stores, they would soon experience
the burning heat of " the great white light that beats upon the
throne " of the Co-operative official when the grand high court
of the quarterly meeting took place. Apart from all of which,
the goods sold by the S.C.W.S. to the stores, and by the stores
to the members, and the prices at which those goods are sold,
are subjected daily to the searching scrutiny of the ubiquitous
lady with the basket whose pronouncements as to relative
values are well-nigh infallible.
The S.C.W.S. has set out to provide everything the societies
in Scotland require for their members in order that these
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 255
members may be free of the shackles put upon consumers from
the pre-Fenwick days. A constant menace which hangs over
the heads of the people is the menace of the capitalist combine,
or trust. If merchants refused to supply Co-operative societies
in the initial stages of Co-operative development it would have
been an obstacle in the way of the burjjjened consumer. Some
societies had that experience, but they found others ready to.
take orders. After the Ironworks Company collapsed the
S.C.W.S. had orders refused by people who formerly canvassed
for them. What happened then has already been told,* but
the experience was a warning to the Wholesale, and its chief
concern since has been to make the consumers independent of
anybody but themselves for the essentials of life, and the most
serious menace has been the growing power of the trusts.
Several rounds of the fight with the trusts have already been
fought. In another chapterf we have shown how the great
combination of people in the meat trade attempted to close-
up the Co-operative fleshing departments, and we have shown
there how the excellent organisation and enterprise of the
S.C.W.S. prevented that happening and rendered the Fleshers'
Association powerless. When the big soap firms sought to lay
down the law as to the price at which soap must be sold in the
Co-operative stores, the Wholesale closed its account with these
firms, and subsequently inaugurated its own soap factory whose
productive output has kept on growing despite the attractive
lists of prizes for soap coupons that were so extensively
advertised for years. In 1906, when the big Soap Trust was
formed. Co-operators who had not been too zealous about
Grangemouth soap works till then, or who had been, very
probably, deluded by the " prize coupon," realised at once
that control of the soap trade by the trust would ultimately
mean control of prices. Many societies decided to give up any
trading connection they had with the firms in the trust. The
soap works have progressed ever since, and the products are
sold at prices lower than the firms in the trust would sell the
same qualities to the societies. Margarine had almost fallen
under syndicate control, but the Wholesale Society entered
into the production on an extensive scale, and the progress of
the trade is fully outlined in the descriptive article in subsequent
* See'page 99. t See pages 156, 157; see also pages 199-202.
254 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
pages. The Proprietary Articles Traders' Association attempted
to dictate to the Co-operative movement, as it does to others
who sell their goods, what the prices must be ; but the Wholesale
disregarded the threat of boycott, and there are few articles
sold by the members of that association which have not their
equivalent in Wholesale productions of equal merit and often
of better value — ^thanks to the resources of the Shieldhall
chemical department. Thanks to the inteUigent activities of the
S.C.W.S. advertising department, these articles find ready sale
among the members of the societies. The danger of trusts
■cornering the supphes of raw materials led to a number of
developments in the Wholesale business. One of the best
examples to be cited is the West African enterprise,* and the
■effect is also noteworthy. The English Wholesale Society had
■established itself in Sierra Leone and on the Gold Coast in 1914,
and the Scottish Wholesale had also estabUshed itself on the
vGold Coast in the same year, the purpose of both being to obtain
native products, particularly raw materials for factories, such
as palm kernels. The effect of the combines and of the
■Co-operative Wholesale Societies respectively was disclosed in
a debate in the House of Commons in the second week of
November 1916, when there was some trouble over the proposed
sale of some enemy property that had been seized. It was
.usual that palm kernels intended for Europe were sent to
Hamburg to be crushed, and Germany, consequently, was very
largely interested in the trade. The properties seized by the
Government were located in Nigeria. The Unionist M.P. for
.the Exchange Division of Liverpool proposed that it should
be ruled that the properties would only be sold to natural-born
British subjects or to companies whoUy British, his avowed
object being to secure that they would not pass into the hands
of neutrals who might, later, pass them on to Germans. (But
why not allow AUies to buy ?) This proposition does not
concern us here except for the fact that it brought out the
discussion which followed. It seemed a simple proposition
which one would have expected Parhament to agree to, in view
of the determination of the Paris Conference to proclaim a trade
Tvar after the war. The first Coalition was in power and
Mr Asquith was the Prime Minister, and the Government
* See " Overseas Enterprises " in Descriptive Section.
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 265
opposed this proposition — an opposition which eventually was
supported by the House. The facts brought out in the
discussion were these. The trade of Nigeria was being
•controlled by a capitalist combine which exercised a sinister
influence on the trade. Supporters of the Government were
•convinced that the pressure that was being brought to bear
upon the Government to exclude neutrals from bidding for
these properties was not prompted by any patriotic fervour
but by the purely materiahstic desire to allow the capitahst
•combine to secure the properties at a lower price than would
be likely to be required if the sale were open. The debate
showed, of course, how simple Co-operators were who deluded
themselves into the beUef that they had no interest in being
represented in ParUament, for it was made tolerably clear that
the aim was to secure trade monopolies or concessions which
-were as good as monopolies. Mr Steel Maitland, M.P., the
Under-Secretary for the Colonies, let a flood of Hght in upon
the whole trade. He stated that before the war there was a
difference of £4 or £5 per ton between the price paid to the
native producer for the palm kernels and the price paid on
the Liverpool market. After the combine entered the market
the difference grew till in November 1916 it was £14, and the
difference in freight rates would account for only one-fifth of
the increase. Then, he explained further, while the price to
the purchaser had gone up, the price paid to the actual
producer had been lowered from £14 to £9 or £10. Anticipating
that some of his Parhamentary associates might ask where the
<iifference went to, Mr Steel Maitland suppUed the information.
One of the firms in the combine had an annual profit which,
averaging the three years before the war, amounted to
£83,000 — the last year before the war being £80,000, an obvious
fall. In 1915, however, that firm's profits went up to £149,000.
Another of the firms had £57,000 of profit per year before the
war and secured £95,000 in 1915 — exclusive of undisclosed
reserves to cover excess profits duty. Naturally these people
would not welcome neutral competitors who might" undersell
them and break the combine. These figures brought the history
of the case up till November 1916 — ^more than two years after
the S.C.W.S. estabhshed itself on the Gold Coast. The S.C.W.S.
had no interest in making profits out of the sale of its palm
256 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
kernels. These products were required for its own works, to
supply its own members ; if profits resulted they would be
divided among the purchasers. So the purchasers were free
from exploitation in respect of these West African products-
There only remained the native producers to be considered.
Mr Steel Maitland told the House that there was no combine
on the Gold Coast (where the S.C.W.S. was estabUshed), but
he added that the natives there were getting £3 per ton more
for their products and their labour than the Niger Company
paid its natives, and that in Sierra Leone (where the C.W.S.
was estabhshed) the native was getting from £3 to £5 more
than was paid to the natives in the area dominated by the
combine. The users of palm kernel products from the area
under S.C.W.S. influence were beiiig protected from exploitation,
and the natives were being better remunerated for their labour.
No doubt the capitalist exporter will regard tenderness towardsv
the native as weakness and bad business, but it was simply
applj^ng to the native the same consideration as the S.C.W.S.
extends to the coolies on the Indian and Cingalese tea estates
and to the highly organised trade unionists at Shieldhall and
elsewhere. When it is claimed, therefore, that the S.C.W.S.
is the Scottish people's bulwark against the trusts, the claim
is fairly well founded. The sequel to the West African debate
may as well be told. The following year saw a linking-up of
some of the interests of the two Wholesale Societies in West
Africa and saw the drafting of an agreement relating to all the
overseas enterprises of the two federations. It witnessed the
extension of the C.W.S. possessions at Accra, on the Gold Coast,
for the use of both ; and, most significant of aU, it witnessed
the establishment of a joint E. & S. C.W.S. depot for the
collection of native produce at Lagos, in Nigeria, where the
combine so described by Mr Steel Maitland - had ruled.
Neither the native producer nor the home consumer should
have reason to regret that step.
Just as the S.C.W.S. is engaged in a laudable endeavour tO'
secure the sources and means of supply of aU the commodities,
its society members require for the use of Co-operators and
their famiUes, it is also part of its policy to make Co-operators
and Co-operation independent of banking concerns. The war
gave the banks a great shock, and but for the Government
GLASGOW FURNITURE WAREHOUSE
Ife^^
ONE OF THE SHOW ROOMS
CHINA, CROCKERY, AND GLASSWARE DEPARTMENT
GLASGOW FURNITURE WAREHOUSE
MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DEPARTMENT
JEWELLERY SALE ROOM
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 267
stepping in to pledge them the security of the nation's resources
there is no saying what the effect oi the war might have been
upon the whole of our banking system. The banldng system
is subject to the same criticism as the trading system as we
know it outside Co-operation — it is not conducted as a
national service, but as a profit-making enterprise for the
benefit of shareholders. One of the most disturbing movements
of recent 3'ears has been the gradual consohdation of banking
interests into rival amalgamations which take the place of
smaller rival banking concerns. The English C.W.S. conducts
a full-fledged banking business ; but the S. C.W.S. has not
gone so far yet, and it has been explained that the difference
in the law relating to banking in the two countries is one
reason why that is so. If it does not do banking in the ordinary
sense, however, it does banking in effect, and most of the retail
societies in affihation with the S. C.W.S. do the same in a local
sense. The retail societies at the end of 1918 held money
deposited by their members to the extent of 10 miUions. The
S.C.W.S. had capital to the amount of 5f milHons. A consider-
able .sum is held on hand by each of the societies — ^retail and
Wholesale — and, while the members may not write cheques on
their Co-operative society as the member of an English society
may write a cheque on the C.W.S. bank, members may withdraw
deposits at almost any time. The retail societies advance
money to members to enable them to purchase their own houses
(within certain limits fixed by their own rules, and on ample
security). They use some of the money to invest in shares ir^
and loans to other Co-operative federations (the United
Co-operative Baking Society, the Paisley Co-operative
Manufacturing Society, etc.). Some invest in certain other
concerns,* but the bulk of the balance not required for the
society's own business is deposited with the S.C.W.S. These
deposits, and increased shares, enabled the S.C.W.S. to found
the Shieldhall enterprise and others. The societies are
constantly pressing the S.C.W.S. to undertake banking in the
fullest sense as a business proposition. The chief reason for
this is because it seems desirable that there should be no more
limitation on the Wholesale's trade in money than on its trade
* The Scottish Co-operative Laundry Association had to invest in
British Dyes Ltd. before it could obtain supplies,
R
258 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
in other commodities for the exchange of which money is the
instrument. The same obstacles are put in the way of
Co-operative trade in money as are put in the way of
Co-operative trade in other articles. If evidence of this is
required it, is already furnished by the fact that the growth
of the funds at the disposal of the Co-operative societies had
so affected other interests that they used their power in
Parliament to prevent the Industrial and Provident Societies
Act being amended in 1913 to increase a member's possible
holding in a society from £200 to £300. Apparently financial
interests are taking steps to prevent their domain being invaded,
as the domain of other trades has been invaded, by Co-operation.
When the subject of banking was last pressed upon the
directors, in 1916, it was reported by the directors that the
Society was, to all intents and purposes, doing banking. The
Society, they said, was transacting banking business (i) in the
way of receiving money, and (2) in the lending of the money
so received. It was pointed out, under the first head, that the
societies had an opportunity of passing on any of their surplus
capital to the Wholesale, that on no occasion had any money
been refused as deposits, and that the only restriction was on
the amoimt of the share capital — shares, practically, being
granted only to the number of the societies' individual members.
Besides, the Wholesale received deposits from employees and
members of retail societies. It was admitted that it was open
to consideration whether an extension of the facilities for
receiving money from members of retail societies would be an
advantage to the movement. The second branch of banking
business — the lending of the surplus invested — ^had developed
on two lines. In the first place, money was advanced to
societies on the security of their property. This was done
under a resolution of the quarterly meeting, and the rates of
interest on these advances were fixed by agreement. At
December 1918 the amoimt so advanced stood at X45,43i.
In the second place, money was advanced to corporations and
public bodies on short notice and on the security of the public
rates. Including the War Loan, the amount so advanced and
outstanding at December 1918 was £1,678,812.* The directors
admitted that the fimdamental business of the Wholesale was
* A good number of Societies invested in War Loan direct.
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 259
to do trade with and manufacture for its members, but it was
also found necessary that large sums should be kept free to
meet the obligations incurred. When this report was submitted
the Greenock Society was moving for a special committee to
consider the whole question of banking ; but the committee
was not appointed, in view of the fact that the subject was
being considered jointly by the boards of the two Wholesale
Societies. We have mentioned in an earlier chapter the steps
entered upon to effect a closer relationship between the two
federations. A post-war programme of industrial and trade
development has been planned by the two Wholesales, jointly
and severally, which wUl involve considerable capital
expenditure ; but the question of banking is certain to be
raised again in Scotland, in view of the greater convenience
a Co-operative bank will be to the members, but also because
it •will afford a ready means of providing capital for development
purposes. The credit of the S.C.W.S. would secure considerable
sums of money from depositors who, at present, may only
deposit money in the S.C.W.S. with the consent of the retail
societies of which they are m.embers. Even in the incomplete
form in which the S.C.W.S. does banking business to-day it
has an economic value, because it enables societies to find
money readily when occasion arises. It has an economic value,
not merely to the Co-operators, but to the public, for it has
stood between the public and the profiteer. One example may
suffice. Some years ago the Corporation of Glasgow wanted
a considerable sum of money on loan. The banks, apparently
acting in co-operation owing to advance knowledge of the
Corporation's requirements, demanded a high rate of interest.
The city treasurer, seeing through the scheme, applied to the
S.C.W.S. for the money. The S.C.W.S. was able to furnish the
money required, the bankers' ring was broken on that occasion,
and the Glasgow ratepayers were saved. It was an act which,
however Co-operators applaud it, would not commend itself to
a profiteering concern.
A chapter dealing with the economic influence of the
Wholesale would not be complete without special reference
to the relationship between the S.C.W.S. and its employees.
When the Jubilee was reached the employees numbered about
9,000, but when the Jubilee was actually celebrated the total
360 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
was 10,157, and the wages bill for 1918 amounted to £862,937.
That little army of employees would have been greater had
the war not intervened to hinder natural developments. The
S.C.W.S. is one of the few concerns which does not throw its
old workers on the scrap-heap. We have already mentioned
the celebration of the ninetieth birthday of one of the
employees* while he was still in the service — an event probably
unique in business circles in Scotland. The presentation to
James Leggat on that occasion was made by Mr George
Davidson, who had entered the service of the drapery
department in 1874. Even Mr Davidson, who is still doing
duty, and doing it well, is not the oldest employee of the
Wholesale, either in age or in service. Leaving age out of
account, for S.C.W.S. employees never seem to grow old
however old they may look, Mr David Gardiner, the chief of
the drapery department, has longer service, for he joined the
S.C.W.S. staff in 1873. Mr Ebenezer Ross, reputed to be one
of the keenest buyers in the grocery trade, took up his duty
with the S.C.W.S. in 1872. Mr Robert Macintosh, now the chief
of the counting-house staff and officially designated " the
accountant," joined the staff, such as it was, in April 1870.
These are the oldest veterans of the service, but they are not
the only veterans. In the grocery department alone there are
a score of employees with over thirty years' service each.
These details indicate that employment in the S.C.W.S. has
been at least tolerable. If no more than that could be said,
the members of the Wholesale would be disappointed and the
directors woiild not have been able to claim that they had
interpreted the will of the Co-operative community.
The promoters of the Wholesale Society were undoubtedly
actuated by a desire that this institution, the embodiment of
Co-operative ideals and Co-operative business methods, should
be a model employer. As we have pointed out, the chief aim
of Co-operators had been to improve the economic condition
of the consumer and to improve the position of the producer.
Consumers were clamouring for a reduction of the cost of
hving ; producers were crying out that they produced wealth
and their employers collected it. The Wholesale determined
that it would ease the burden for the people in both directions,
* See page 117.
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 261
and a fair reward for labour was held to be a first charge upon
the business. If the world had been run on Co-operative lines
the S.C.W.S. would have had no difficulty, but the world was
built differently. The Co-operative stores were surrounded by
competitors. The S.C.W.S. itself was surrounded by
competitors. The chief purpose of the S.C.W.S. was to let
the stores have goods of the best quality that could be sold
at prices that would enable the stores to reduce the cost of
living for their members. It was impossible, therefore, to go
far ahead of competitors in the matter of expense. The
Wholesale, therefore, paid the best wages compatible with the
competitive conditions in which it existed, and its profits were
returned to the purchasers. In 1870, before the Society had
been two years in existence, it decided that the employees
must also share in the profits, and it was arranged that a bonus
on wages should be paid at double the rate per £ that was paid
in dividend on purchases to the members. That arrangement
endured till after the productive departments were inaugurated.
In October 1885 the conditions of the bonus were changed.
The employees in the distributive departments were paid bonus
at the same rate per £ of wages as the members received on
each £ of purchases, but the bonus to the employees in the
productive departments depended entirely on the profits made
in the productive departments. That arrangement lasted till
1892, when it was decided that the bonus on wages, throughout
the whole service, would be at the same rate per £ as the
dividend.
Another change was made at that time. TUl then the bonus
was paid over in cash, but in 1893 it was agreed that half the
bonus should be so paid and that the other half should be retained
by the Society and credited to the employee. This retained
sum was only withdrawable on the employee's leaving the
service. The directors had power, under the rules regulating
the bonus, to deprive an employee of bonus at any time
if dismissed for any irregularity. That power was derived from
the fact that the bonus was an income apart from wages.
The wages were fixed always on the trade union scale. There
is no case on record of any wages being paid below the trade
union standard, and trade union conditions, at least, were
always recognised. There was no regulation requiring
262 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
employees to be members of their trade unions, and this fact
was emphasised time after time by Mr Maxwell while he
occupied the chair. The attitude of the board then was that
it was the business of the trade unions to organise the workers
and not the business of the S.C.W.S. directors and managers.
No obstacle was ever put in the way of trade union organisation,
and the fullest opportunity was given to trade union officials
to address the employees and to canvass for members. So far
as we can gather, the directors shared the view of the trade
union leaders that it was unfair for workers who enjoyed the
good conditions that prevailed in the S.C.W.S. service to hold
themselves aloof from the unions which were in many cases
engaged in bringing conditions and wages in other estabUshments
up to the Wholesale's standard. At the same time, the
directors took the view— it was expressed by both Mr Maxwell
and Mr Stewart from the chair on several occasions — that it
was not right to resort to compulsion ; and no effort was even
made to press the employees to be Co-operators, one reason
being that the Co-operators themselves would have been the
first to resent any effort on the part of their employers to make
them become supporters of the private trading system.
A good many girls and women were employed by the Society ;
these workers, for the most part, looked forward to entering
the matrimonial lists, and to them the need for trade
unionism — especially in view of the conditions in the Wholesale
— ^was not apparent. They were being paid better than
similar classes of workers outside, and their working day was
shorter ; but in their case, as in the case of the trade unionists
in the employment of the concern — ^whose standard formed the
minimum rates paid — ^the wages were fixed without consideration
for the bonus, which was an extra payment which alone raised
the trade unionists to a httle higher level than those employed
outside. The retention of part of the bonus was intended to
quicken the interest of the employees in the business. It had
been proposed by the directors that the whole bonus should
be retained, but the employees themselves expressed a desire
that half should be paid in cash as formerly, and this wish was
acceded to. The retained portion was regarded as loan capital
and was paid interest at the same rate as twelve months' loans.
This, however, did not appear to give the employees the direct
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 263
interest in the concern that was thought to be desirable in a
Co-operative concern, and so, in 1893, the scheme of employees'
shareholding was inaugurated.
Under this scheme, which still obtains, any employee over
twenty-one years of age may become a shareholder in the
Society, the shares bearing interest at 5 per cent, per annum.
An employee who wishes to become a shareholder must apply
for not less than five 20/ shares. These shares may be paid
up in the same way as that adopted by societies — namely,
1/ per share on application, the remainder of the value being
made up of accumulated bonus and interest ; but any member
may pay up shares in full or in part at any time. Fifty is the
maximum number of shares allowed to each employee. The
employee shareholders are entitled to nominate and send one
delegate to general meetings for every 150 shareholders.
Employees on leaving the employment of the Society must
place their shares on the transfer list, as no one outside the
Society's emplo5mient is allowed to hold any of its shares.
The Employees' Shareholding Association, set up in accordance
with this scheme in 1893, celebrated its sUver jubilee in 1918
at a very enjoyable little social gathering held in the S.C.W.S.
Dining Rooms, Morrison Street, Glasgow, when a presentation
was made to Mr Macintosh, who had been president of the
association since its inception, and a presentation was also
made to Mrs Macintosh. The members meet shortly before
the quarterly meetings of the Wholesale to discuss the agenda
issued for these meetings and to elect and instruct their
delegates. When the Shareholding Association celebrated its
silver jubilee there were about 8,000 employees in the service ;
but of these 665 were shareholders, their invested shares
amounting to 25,000. About 2,000 of the employees, or more,
were under twenty-one years of age and were not eligible for
membership ; but that still left about 90 per cent, of the
eligible employees who did not hold shares.
The whole idea underlying the granting of bonus and the
formation of the Employees' Shareholding Association was to
harmonise the interests of capital, the consumer, and the
worker. In bringing about the scheme the directors believed
they were doing this. Mr Maxwell was the leading spirit in
promoting the scheme, and he was warmly supported by the
264 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
directors on the whole, although there was one notable
exception. Some of the employees were not in favour of the
scheme at all, and till the end of the bonus system in the
Wholesale there were opponents to it among the employees.
It is interesting now to recall that the late Mr James Keyden,
then the Society's sohcitor, drafted the regulations, and that
the rule instituting the employees' shareholding scheme was
proposed at the quarterly meeting by Mr James Deans and
seconded by the late Mr John M'Nair. Mr Deans carried his
enthusiasm a httle further than the Wholesale scheme, and in
1895 the Scottish Section of the Co-operative Union drafted a
report highly favourable to the payment of bonus in Co-operative
societies in general recognition of the principle of profit-sharing.
The question formed the subject of keen controversy. The
notable exception on the Wholesale board, Mr T. C. M'Nab,
read a paper which was freely discussed at conferences, in
which he upheld the proposition that " Co-operative profit,
being a surcharge on the consumer — made for a definite
purpose, viz., the creation of capital — it can only in justice
return to the consumer from whence it came ; to the
Co-operative employee, if he is a Co-operative consumer, as he
ought to be, in the same proportion as to aU others." He
found a ready and an eloquent antagonist in his colleague on
the board, Mr Henry Murphy, who contended that Co-operation
would have failed if the worker's reward was only the wage
resulting from war between the employer and the employee,
and that Co-operative service should hold out some attraction
to the workers that competitive trading and industry did not.
The discussion died down, to be revived again ten years later,
when Mr Hugh Campbell (now a director) propagated ideas
much hke Mr M'Nab's, and Mr Murphy again stepped into the
breach, backed soUdly by Mr M. H. Cadiz of Kinning Park.
Nevertheless, the federation still held to the principle of bonus
on wages. The question of a superannuation proposal for
directors had been submitted, as our historical record shows,
following a paper by Mr James Campsie at the Scottish
National Co-operative Conference in 1906 ; but this was rejected.
A special committee had reported favourably, but that did not
save it. One objection to it was that it did not embrace the
employees as well as the directors. Some beUeved that the
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 265
bonus problem and the superannuation problem might be
solved together, and, after several efforts to create public
opinion on the subject, another special committee was set up
by the Wholesale Society which, in 1914, submitted a
contributory scheme of superannuation embracing directors
and employees alike ; the bonus to be eliminated in the
process. This scheme was rejected ; but in December 1914
the late Mr J. M. WilMe, then a member of the Scottish
Sectional Board, proposed, on behalf of the Greenock Central
Society, that the rules should be altered so that bonus should
be aboUshed. It was a memorable meeting. There is evidence
that a number of the employees were hotly opposed to the
superannuation scheme rejected earUer in the year — some
because it was a contributory scheme, and some because they
feared that any pension scheme tended to tie the hands of
employees in any service where such schemes applied because
the prospect of loss of pension was an ever-present menace to
hberty. Mr WUkie, in proposing the aboUtion of the bonus,
based his proposal partly on what he conceived to be the mind
of the employees themselves, and he very ingeniously pointed
out that the Progress Co-operative Society, formed by the
S.C.W.S. employees themselves,* did not pay bonus to its own
staff. He repeated Mr M'Nab's contention that dividend was
^' a surcharge on the consumer " and that it should go back
to the consumer, and he denied the assumption that the bonus
stimulated the worker. In support of this last contention he
referred to a recent dispute there had been between the
S.C.W.S. and the Boot Operatives' Union, in which it
appeared that, although the workers were being paid 6/ a
week more than bootmakers on the same machines elsewhere,
the S.C.W.S. was not to be allowed to get the same output
from its machines as other people were allowed to get.
Against Mr Wilkie's arguments it was submitted by Mr Low
of Kinning Park that the bonus paid by the S.C.W.S. was not
in the same category as bonus paid by other firms, the latter
being paid as a reward for " speeding up." Mr Andrew Purdie
(now a director) took up the same attitude, and he pointed to
the fact that, although there had just been a bad time of
industrial unrest and labour trouble, the S.C.W.S. had
* See concluding chapter.
266 WHOLESALE CO-OEfiRATION IN SCOTLAND
occupied a splendid position because of the conditions it gave
its workers. An eloquent plea for the recognition of profit-
sharing was added to the discussion by Mr D. H. Gerrard of
the Baking Society ; but the vote determined that the bonus
system should end, and the system recognised since 1870 was
terminated by 498 votes to 211. Those who voted in the
majority were not actuated by any desire to save money,
except in a very few instances where it was feared that bonus
created a privileged class. Beneath the argument was the
view that the employees ought to be paid what their unions
decided was a fair wage for their labour, and that the economic
advantage shoidd go to the consumers (including the employees)
in reduced prices or in dividend. The fact dawned upon the
movers of the proposal for the rejection of the bonus that they
had reduced the income of the employees, but at the next
meeting this was rectified, and all employees who received
bonus were subsequently allotted an " equivalent," which
meant that each half-year they received a gift of 8d. per £
on their half-year's wages. It was much the same as the
bonus ; but there was this difference — viz., that new employees
did not receive it ; and the annual outlay in this respect
became a diminishing quantity which in 1918 amounted to
£19,796. Although it was decided to abolish the bonus in
December 1914, the change could not take place till the new
rule was registered, and this did not take place till February
1915. From 1870 tin that date £265,690 was paid in bonus
on wages. The abolition of the bonus meant that the bonus
fund accumulated to the credit of the employees had to be
placed at the disposal of the employees, but a large number
of the employees simply transferred it to the deposit account.
Nor did the abolition of the bonus interfere with the employees'
shareholding system, for the rule still stands which enables any
employee over twenty-one years of age to hold shares in any
number above five and below fifty.
It is true that there have been labour disputes even in the
S.C.W.S., but the Society on Ihe whole has been comparatively
free of these. New machinery capable of increasing the output
is a frequent cause of dispute. In the competitive trade such
machinery and the consequent displacement of labour means
more profit for the owner of the business. In the Co-operative
ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF THE WHOLESALE 267
service the benefits go to the consumer, and the generaUty of
the employees are members (or sons or daughters of members)
of the societies which own the machinery and, therefore, they
share in the benefit. This is not always apparent to the
employees, of course. The S.C.W.S., however, has time after
time been used as the pace-maker by trade unions. It does
aim at keeping a little ahead of the capitalist employer, but
in a world of competition it cannot go very far ahead of its
competitors without jeopardising its trade. When trade union
demands are made upon employers, the attitude of the
Wholesale directors usually expresses itself in an indication of
willingness to pay the demand if others pay it ; and very often
the works go on on the understanding that the S.C.W.S. pays
whatever advance is ultimately agreed upon by the other
employers. The trade unions know, quite well, that the
Wholesale is controlled in the last resort by the delegates at
the quarterly meetings, who are themselves trade unionists for
the most part ; but it happens that the unions are not disposed
to grant privileges. If a union demands a forty-eight hour
week instead of fifty in the trade, and the S.C.W.S. department
concerned is working a forty-eight hour week, the union
expects the Wholesale to give the two hours' reduction like
the others ; and analogous cases have arisen during the war
with regard to wages. The Wholesale was one of the first
employers to begin the war bonus arrangement in view of the
increase in the cost of living ; but fresh wages claims made
upon it did not always give credit for this war bonus, and
arbitration had sometimes to be resorted to. Apart from the
wages question, however, even the most aggressive of trade
unions will readily concede that the S.C.W.S. is a more
sympathetic employer than the bulk of employers, and that
there is in the service, whether in office or warehouse or factory,
an atmosphere which secures plenty of workers for all its
departments — except, perhaps, when a new industry is set
down in a town where experienced workers are not readily
obtained and where young people have to be trained. Even
the most harassed workers in the sweated, unorganised trades
owe something to the S.C.W.S. for having helped them out
by the force of example.* In 1912, the representatives of the
* See page 119.
268 WHOLESALE COOPERATION IN SCOTLAND
workers on the Readymade and Wholesale Bespoke Tailoring
Trade Board passed a resolution expressing their appreciation
of the enUghtened poUcy of the S.C.W.S. in regard to the fixing
of the minimum rates for the wholesale tailoring trade, and
offering their thanks to the Society and to Mr David Gardiner
(its representative on the Scottish District Committee) for
valuable support in their effort to secure fair rates of payment
for workers in the trade. That is only one of the bouquets
the workers have handed to the Wholesale.
XVI.
THE WHOLESALE IN TIMES OF NATIONAL CRISIS.
IN SPELLS OF TRADE DEPRESSION THE WHOLESALE'S ATTITUDE DURING
GREAT STRIKE ^WHAT THE WHOLESALE DID IN THE GREAT WAR
THE KEEPING DOWN OF PRICES THE CONSUMERS' ONLY BULWARK^
A MENACE TO THE PROFITEER GOVERNMENT WAR CONTRACTS ; SOME
PRODUCTIVE FEATS THE GOVERNMENT'S ECCENTRIC BEHAVIOUR
TOWARDS THE WHOLESALE-*-THE PRESS PLEADS FOR CO-OPERATION
RATHER THAN COMPETITION
Times of national crisis have proved the economic value of
the S.CW.S. to its own constituents. At the time of the failure
of the City of Glasgow Bank* in 1878, when industries were
closed down and the greatest distress prevailed, the S.CW.S.
had Httle more than recovered from its own trouble over the
Ironworks Company. It was, nevertheless, able to assist the
societies in affected areas to alleviate the distress caused by the
colossal failure. When those occasional cycles of trade
depression came, the Wholesale also stood behind the retail
societies in their efforts to mitigate the effects. The Railway
Strike of 1891 was marked by a lowering of prices to meet the
necessities of the time, a step which was reflected in a decreased
dividend. When the workers in any large industry were on
strike for an improved standard of living, or were locked out
by their employers in a struggle for the improvement of the
economic conditions of the workers, the Wholesale could be
relied upon to contribute towards funds for the relief of the
dependent Co-operators. It is a practice at which employers
may look askance, but non-combatants should not suffer in a
struggle between capital and labour. During the great
National Coal Strike of 1912 the Wholesale Society voted
;f5,ooo for the relief of distress. It was not regarded as a
charitable dole. The working-people, miners and others, who
suffered were for the most part Co-operators ; the funds from
* See page 108.
270 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
which this contribution came had been buiJt up by the workers
themselves and constituted a priceless nest-egg which, with the
consent of their fellows in the S.C.W.S., they were entitled to
make use of. On this occasion there was no doubt that the
nest-egg was used by popular consent. The question of voting
the £5,000 or not voting it was decided by a ballot of the
society members of the S.C.W.S., and of 171 societies which
voted only one voted against, two papers were spoiled, and
the rest of the societies voted for the grant. In addition to
that, societies reduced the price of bread and food in affected
areas ; the price of coal had soared considerably owing to the
strike, but in a number of districts coal vendors were
compelled to keep their prices down to that charged by the
local societies which, in turn, had bought their coal from the
S.C.W.S. which had no purpose to serve by inflating its price.
The usefulness of the S.C.W.S. was also demonstrated by the
fact that societies in some cases had to fall back upon their
capital deposited with it to meet the demands of people v/ho
were unemployed. It was their own money, or, rather, the
money of the members who called upon it ; but the fact that
it was available is a singularly useful contrast to what
happened elsewhere, for banks at that time declined to allow
miners' associations to withdraw funds. In all such times of
crisis the Wholesale seconded the efforts of the local societies
to assist those who needed help.
The most serious crisis of all was, of course, that occasioned
by the Great War, and even yet the part played by the S.C.W.S.
as a wonderful economic influence during the war cannot be
fully understood.* The closing of the banks for three days left
the S.C.W.S. workers in no anxiety about their wages, thanks
to the Society's splendid resources. The Moratorium proclaimed
on the outbreak of war postponed payment of debts, but the
effect it had was to disturb trade and credit very considerably.
Grain sellers across the Atlantic were not anxious to sell their
grain except for cash down. Many buyers in the British milling
trade were not prepared for such a contingency ; but the
financial resources of the S.C.W.S. enabled its buyers to pay
on the spot, and they were enabled to select their grain and
•command suppUes of the very best quaUty at the very best
* See next chapter for the Wholesale's social influence during the war.
ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 271
terms, while others had to take very Hniited supplies of inferior
quahty at less favourable terms. The whole of the consumers
in Scotland — ^whether Co-operators or not, but chiefly the
Co-operators — derived the advantage of that transaction. The
Wholesale determined to sell at normal prices as long as possible.
Some days before war was declared the Master Bakers of
Glasgow wished to raise the price of the loaf in view of the
threat of war. The United Co-operative Baking Society
blocked the way because the increase was not necessary, and
for months the price of bread in Glasgow remained at the pre-
war figure. The manager of the Baking Society stated
afterwards without hesitation that that could not have
happened but for the excellent fashion in which the society
was supplied by the S.C.W.S. The Bakers could not raise the
price while the Co-operators were selUng at the old price, and
so the Glasgow people as a whole enjoyed their cheap loaf
because the S.C.W.S. made it possible for the Co-operative
societies to seU at the old price. What the U.C.B.S. did in
Glasgow, St Cuthbert's Association did in Edinburgh. In most
■other districts similar service was rendered, and the people
were saved from an imposition which they would have had to
bear without any real reason save the natural desire of the
profiteers to make profit whenever the slightest opportunity
came to them. In 1917, when the Northcliffe press was
clamouring for a bread subsidy which would enable people to
obtain the 4-lb. loaf for ninepence, at least thirty Co-operative
societies in Scotland, deriving their flour from the S.C.W.S.,
were selling the loaf at ninepence or less ; forty-four were
selling the loaf at a price below the price prevailing in their
districts — ^the difference ranging from one halfpenny as in the
case of Barrhead to twopence halfpenny as in the case of
Newmains — the dividend paid by the society enhancing the
difference. The bread subsidy came, and it has cost the tax-
payer 50 millions a year to enable the customers of the private
bakeries to secure their bread as cheaply as the members ot
these Co-operative societies were able to purchase theirs.
The threatened sugar famine, when war came, led to wild
speculation on the part of the consumers, particularly those
who had money ; and, while shopkeepers were pushing their
prices up with feverish haste. Co-operative societies were
272 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
selling at their fair price. The Hawick Trades Council, to
mention one, passed a resolution nearly at the end of 1914,
thanking the Co-operative society for keeping its sugar at 2|d.
while others were selling at 6d. per lb. Other societies which,
like Hawick, drew their supphes from the S.C.W.S. were
enabled to keep the price down in the same fashion.
The whole competitive system broke down under the strain
of the first weeks of war, and the Government was forced to
adopt the policy practised, from the beginning, by the S.C.W.S.
and its constituents — the pohcy of eUminating competition and
catering for a known market. In that it was only giving heed
to resolutions from Co-operative societies and conferences and
from other working-class organisations. The Government, in
fact, was compelled in self-defence to adopt this policy. It
was being fleeced by war contractors in time-honoured fashion.
Everything it had to order had to be bought at enhanced
prices, and it was in exactly the same category as the ordinary
people of the land who did not avail themselves of the resources
of Co-operation. The Government did discover the S.C.W.S.
after vigorous efforts had been made to make it aware that
such an organisation existed. It had found it out in the first
days of war, because horses, vehicles, motor waggons and
lorries were commandeered from almost every society in the
country and especially from the S.C.W.S., and the agents of
the War Office boasted quite openly of the splendid equipment
in the way of transport requirements they had got from the
Co-operative societies ; but it did take some little time for
the Government to assure itself that this Co-operative concern,
owned by common people, had factories in which necessaries
could be produced.* Before the December meeting of the
Wholesale in that year, 1914, orders had been received for
69,086 suits for the British army ; 15,000 blouses and 9,000
pairs of knickers for the Indian army ; 60,000 pairs of boots
for the British army ; 15,000 blankets, and large quantities
of hosiery, greatcoats, and shirts. The mills at Selkirk received
wool direct from the sheep, prepared it, spun it into yam, wove
♦ A large distributive society tendered for supplies for a local camp.
Its tender was rejected, and the contract placed with a private firm,
fhe firm apparently could not execute the order, and commissioned the
society to execute it. The society, in turn, passed the order on to the
S.C.W.S., which executed it.
STATIONERY WAREHOUSE
STATIONERY AND BOOK SHOW ROOM
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ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 273
the yam into cloth, and transferred the cloth to the clothing
factories where it was converted into uniforms. We doubt if
any other contractor carried out his contract so completely in
his own establishments. Before long other Governments
discovered the S.C.W.S., and orders were placed, to begin with,
for 16,000 pairs of boots for the French army and for boots
for the Russian army. In all, contracts were completed during
the war for groceries and provisions amounting to £108,141 ;
drapery and clothing, £571,483 ; boots, £252,987 ; furniture,
£4,473 — a total of £937,084. Knowledge of these contracts
aroused a good deal of criticism on the part of rival producers,
and on the part of agents and contractors who were not
producers but middlemen, who resented the Co-operative
concerns ploughing their field. They were not concerned
about the service to the State but about their own profits.
As usual, they reopened the old plea for the taxation of
Co-operative profits, and held the S.C.W.S. guilty of violating
the Co-operative charter by contracting for the Government.
Prior to that the same people would have questioned the right
of the S.C.W.S. to exist, but their arguments were ill-natured.
The Government did not make requests ; it gave orders.
If the S.C.W.S. had dechned then, the Government could have
taken possession of the necessary estabUshments and compelled
obedience. The S.C.W.S. performed its duty to the State, and
it rendered valuable economic service because its goods gave
the maximum of satisfaction. The Co-operative garment was
known to many of the quartermaster-sergeants for its quahty
and make, and ShieldhaU jams were easily distinguished by
Tommies from some of the other makes. The goods were
accepted with the minimum of complaint and with no
profiteering. Indeed, the Co-operative News, replying to some
of those who wrote in the press inquiring about the tax on
these profits, intimated that the directors would probably be
glad to challenge comparison of the S.C.W.S. profits with the
profits made by other contractors ; but there was no response.
The Wholesale, by general consent of the people who
managed and the people who bought from the S.C.W.S., did
splendidly in the supplies of all the goods for which it was
dependent only upon itself. Before the war had run a year,
horse-flesh was being openly sold in Glasgow shops, and, we
s
«74 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
believe, also in Edinburgh ; but it was not being/ sold in
Co-operative fleshing stores. Wheat supplies were maintained
at prices below what others could sell at, owing to the
wonderful organisation of the S.C.W.S. in Canada. Hams and
bacon and other farm produce were also being provided on
terms that nobody could rival ; and in the Jubilee year — the
last year of the war— the Scottish Co-operative Managers'
Association passed a resolution conveying to the directors and
staff the cordial thanks of the managers and buyers for the
excellent way in which their wants had been catered for,
notwithstanding the enormous difficulties that had to be
overcome.
The Government eventually became the sole importer of
sugar and wheat ; in short, it became a universal provider
with its agents everywhere. Tlie S.C.W.S., which had had to
tell Co-operative societies what their allowance of sugar or
butter would be, in order that all might get a fair share, found
its place taken first by the Sugar Commission, then by the
Wheat Commission, then by the Ministry of Food, the last
mentioned carrying the process a little further and telling the
individual how much bread he would be allowed to have in a
restaurant or hotel, how much sugar he must use in a week,
on what days he could have meat and on what days he could
have potatoes — the Ministry even determined the price the
consumer would be allowed to pay for certain goods. These
methods were copied by the Coal Controller.
One would have thought that the Government would have
observed the disinterested part the S.C.W.S. was playing in
aU its operations. In the very earhest stages of the war it
had offered to put all its information and experience at the
disposal of the commissions, and had offered to help in the
great work of distributing food supplies. Its information was
accepted and was found valuable, but no official regard was
paid to the fact that this great distributive machine was
operating at the behest of the half-milUon Co-operators and
the families of these half-million — a total clientele of about two
millions — ^because it was in the interests of the consumers that
it should operate as it did. It had had contracts for the
production and supply of goods for the armies ; but the
Government steadfastly resolved — or acted as if it had
ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 275
resolved — that it would not be given any special consideration,
and, as a matter of fact, it was not given the same consideration
as was given to the traders whose object was to make profit.
Even in local concerns the Co-operative organisation was
contemned to a large extent until the period of Lord Rhondda's
office as Food Minister, when he declared that the fullest use
must be made of the organisation of the Co-operative societies
and that Co-operative societies should be represented on the
local food committees. Whether that idea was Lord Rhondda's
or whether it was pressed upon him by his deputy and successor,
Mr J. R. Clynes, we cannot say ; but even after that
pronouncement the Co-operative societies found difficulty in
securing proper representation on the advisory committees
formed in conjunction with the food commissions.
The Government had set out to do the right thing in the
wrong way. It had undertaken to provide sugar, but it
suppUed it through brokers. Speaking at the September
meeting in 1916, the chairman told the delegates that, in
answer to complaints to the Sugar Commission, the directors
had been told that if they did not get their proper supphes
from the brokers acting for the Government they should let
the Commission know. On taking the matter up with the
brokers, the directors were told by the brokers that they did
not get their quantity from the Commission. There would have
been a touch of humour in the situation if it had not meant so
much to the people. The fact was that the Government was
concerned about keeping the brokers in business. In 1915 the
S.C.W.S. sold to its members 46,361 tons of sugar. Excepting
the C.W.S. operating in England, there was probably no firm
in the country seUing so much sugar direct to the consumer,
and a case could be made out for special consideration. Even
the C.W.S. could not command any better treatment from the
Government in respect to sugar than the S.C.W.S. got. The
membership of the societies supplied by the S.C.W.S. was
growing enormously because people took refuge in them from
the profiteers. This made added demands on the stocks of
societies and on the stock of the Wholesale and reduced the
demand upon the stocks of traders, but that brought no
increase in supplies to the Wholesale. Even the influx of
•workers into new munitions centres did not improve the
276 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
supplies allowed to the S.C.W.S. until after long and vigorous
pressure had been exercised upon the Commission. When this
concession was made, no further effort was made by the
Government to meet the needs of the Wholesale until the
official rationing scheme was brought in.
The situation with regard to wheat was no less perplexing.
Requests had been made to the Wheat Commission to include
representatives of the Wholesale in the Commission. The
S.C.W.S. was the largest milling concern in Scotland, and the
C.W.S. was probably the largest milling concern in England ;
but neither would be allowed representation on the Commission.
The Flour Millers' Association was represented, although it
represented no consumers' interests, and the Food Controller
at that time (Lord Devonport) was literally a wholesale grocer
who could not be regarded as representing any consumers'
interests ; and the whole moral justification for the founding
of the Food Ministry, and the various commissions which came
within the Controller's puiview, was that the consumers'
interests might be protected. Lord Rhondda was the first
Controller to give even lip service to the interests of the
consumer. Under Lord Devonport's regime the Ministerial
attitude was : We want your information, but we don't want
you. The useful information given to the Wheat Commission
regarding the S.C.W.S. organisation in Canada was a revelation
to the grave and potent seigneurs composing it ; and, in
recognition of this organisation, permission was given to the
S.C.W.S. to import its own collected grain from Canada to
supply its own mills as before. The arrangement worked all
right. The Government had the first claim on shipping
accommodation, but the S.C.W.S. was to be at hberty to ship
wheat for which it could find accommodation. Eventually
there came a time when the freight space was refused.
Protests were made in Canada, but without success. Protests
were made to the Commission, but the result was that the
S.C.W.S. was informed that at the end of 1916 the privilege
of importing its own wheat would be stopped, and whatever
suppUes it collected would have to be sold to the Government's
agent in Canada, and whatever supplies the mills required
would have to be bought on this side. This meant that the
Wholesale Society was saddled with brokerage charges for
ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 277
every quarter, besides having to take whatever wheat was
available instead of the high-grade selected wheat the Society
was accustomed to mill. Under its own arrangements the
Society had been able to keep its mills well suppUed, and in
1915 three-quarters of a million sacks of flour had been milled.
The new arrangements meant a good deal to Co-operators in
Scotland. In response to a demand from societies that certain
goods should be consigned carriage paid, the directors agreed
that this system should be inaugurated with regard to flour
from the Society's mills ; but the Government again stepped
in and prohibited this because, it was stated unequivocally,
it would be unfair to other millers. The " other miUers " were
selling to " other persons," but the Co-operative societies
owned the S.C.W.S. and its mills and were, therefore, entitled
to beUeve they were justified in'seUing to themselves on their
own conditions ; but the Government's ukase in 1917 rejected
that plain logic, apparently because the chairman of the
British Millers' Association had asked what right the S.C.W.S.
had to be in a better position than the private traders in any
district. The Co-operative reply was that : " If the Wholesale
can send goods to Wick, and it only cost 18/ to do so, what
right have other people to say the Co-operators must charge
20/ ? "* The S.C.W.S. directors who had been interviewing
one food committee after another for weeks and months were
almost forced to the conclusion that the chief function of these
committees was to prevent the consumers from being helped.
In 1917, when the Government regulations were issued
making it compulsory upon millers to extract more flour from
the wheat than was formerly regarded as the limit of safety
to the pubhc health, and husks formerly thrown aside for
feeding cattle had to be converted into flour for human
consumption, there was a vigorous outcry from the public
which ultimately led to the use of imported white flour from
America being allowed. The S.C.W.S. was once again
penalised for its national service.' The Milling Committee
decided that the S.C.W.S. could only get the allowance of flour
that it imported in 1915 ; but the S.C.W.S. imported very
httle flour in 1915, or in any year after the estabUshment of
its own mills. Politicians who adopted the Tariff Reform
* S.C.W.S. Chairman at quarterly meeting in Glasgow — June 1917.
278 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
programme had familiarised people with the war-cry : " The
foreigner has got my job." The S.C.W.S. had imported wheat
rather than flour ; it had developed its big mUUng industry
and had given to Scottish millers the job which other flour
merchants were willing to leave to the foreigner ; but when
it came to this food crisis the people who gave the American
miUers the work the Scotsmen could do were allowed the
advantage of using the white flour, while the S.C.W.S. had
to be content with a small proportion of this to blend with
the Government Regulation flour which wrought havoc with
the digestive organs of all — Co-operators or others — who used it.
The S.C.W.S. creameries, erected at Enniskillen by Scottish
Co-operators to make butter for themselves, were put under
control, and the products had to be sent to Liverpool where
a clearing-house was estabhshed ; but the result was that the
S.C.W.S. was making butter for its own members and, for a
time, could not get the use of any of it. The Government
urged people engaged in the egg trade to collect all the eggs
they could and put what were not immediately required into
cold storage. The S.C.W.S. collected its eggs, stored what it
could at Enniskillen ; but was told, when it wished to send
the surplus to cold storage, that the Government required its
available cold storage for other things. Meat distribution was
brought also under Government control, and the Scime unfair
discrimination was shown against the S.C.W.S. until the
Co-operators made a noise and the state of affairs was
improved, the manager of the S.C.W.S. meat department being
appointed to the executive of the South of Scotland Wholesale
Meat Supply Association. In connection with margarine there
was room for serious complaint. The Controller had set up a
clearing-house for this article with the avowed objects of
preventing overlapping in the distribution of margarine, of
organising the various districts of the country with a view to
facihtating distribution, and of saving carriage. These objects
the Government attempted to achieve by sending S.C.W.S.
margarine, made in Scotland, to private traders in England
for distribution among EngUsh consumers, and by sending the
productions of makers in England and elsewhere into Scotland
for distribution among Scottish Co-operators. Thus, the
Controller conceived, overlapping would be stopped, distribution
ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 279
expedited and facilitated, and carriage saved. With regard to
margarine, the S.C.W.S. delegates were informed* by the
directors : " We could have rendered the Controller of this
article valuable assistance, and were willing to do so, if he
had cared to listen to what experience we had, but this he
would not do." In coal distribution, also, the adoption of the
" datum period " basis of allocation was unfair to a growing
concern hke the Co-operative movement and hampered the
S.C.W.S. in providing for its members.
To move among the S.C.W.S. directors and the directors
and managers of the distributive societies during those periods
of scarcity was to encounter, at every turn, men utterly
impatient of the methods of the Government and men almost
in despair of ever persuading the Government- officials and
agents to take a sensible view of their functions. Lord
Rhondda did agree, in July of 1917, that he would recognise
the boards of the C.W.S. and the S.C.W.S. as the central
organisations representing the trading departments of the
Co-operative movement, and the two boards appointed a war
emergency sub-committee to conduct negotiations with him.
Despite this arrangement, which afforded the S.C.W.S. and
the sister federation the opportunity of making direct
representations to the Controller, the Controller was guided
by his commissions and the commissions by the advisory
committees, and Lord Rhondda's arrangement was robbed of
much of its efficacy. Co-operative indignation was so aroused
in Scotland that a large attendance of Scottish delegates took
part in the special emergency Co-operative conference held in
London in October 1917. While there, the delegates invited
Scottish members of Parliament to meet them to discuss these
complaints. The meeting was held in one of the committee
rooms of the House of Commons, when the complaints regarding
the food supplies were voiced by Mr Robert Stewart. Complaints
regarding unfair treatment of Co-operative societies in respect
to the calUng up of employees for military service were voiced
chiefly by Mr H. J. May, secretary of the Joint Co-operative
Parliamentary Committee, but this matter affected the retail
societies more than the S.C.W.S. Mr Stewart's complaints
were listened to attentively by members of all parties ;
* 15th June 1918, Glasgow.
280 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
questions were asked and replied to ; and the delegates retired
atter having been informed that their statements would be
very carefully considered — an assurance which almost any
deputation to almost any body with reference to almost any
subject could rely upon at almost any time in the history of
almost any Ministry.
The appointment of the Consumers' Council gave a new
hope to Co-operators because the S.C.W.S. was represented
on it. It comprised six Labour representatives, six Co-operators,
three representatives from national women's organisations, and
four members appointed by the Government to represent the
unorganised consumers. It was an eminently fair " Consumers'
Council " so far as constitution went. It was represented on
all the advisory committees dealing with the principal food-
stuffs ; it was allowed the privilege of considering the orders
of the Food Ministry before these were proclaimed ; and its
knowledge of actualities enabled it to render excellent service
to the people as a whole. Its pohcy was all in favour of
rationing essential foodstuffs to all on an equitable basis and
of keeping prices from rising when it could not secure their
reduction. Like the emergency committee of the two
Wholesale Societies, it was devoid of any administrative part
in food control ; it was only an advisory council ; and so its
work was, to a considerable extent, discounted, although it
was instrumental in securing a modification or improvement
in some of the orders it was proposed to issue.
Despite all the drawbacks of the situation. Co-operators
had a sense of triumph in the whole administration of the food
supply by the Government. Speaking in September 1917, two
months after Lord Rhondda had " recognised " the two
Wholesale boards, Mr Stewart expressed the common
Co-operative view when he said : " If we take a retrospective
view of our activities we find much to encourage us to persevere.
Our principles have advanced, notwithstanding the keen
opposition arrayed against us. We have even succeeded in
impressing the Food Controller with the potentialities of our
movement. In these times of stress and strain, as an
organisation we have been able to render much valuable
assistance in connection with the controlling of prices and the
regulating of the supplies of food. The influence of the
ITS USEFULNESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS 281
middleman has weakened. Competitive buying has, to a
large extent, been supplanted. The State has become the
buyer of many of the necessities of life. By this action
the Government has exposed the insufficiency of private
enterprise and has acknowledged the utility and economy of
Co-operation."
He was not the only one who recognised all this. The
middlemen recognised it, and the Government recognised it ;
and it was probably due to the fact that these two great
powers recognised it that subsequent acts of the Government
seemed to be even more clumsily restrictive of Co-operative
freedom. The Prime Minister decUned to receive a Co-
operative deputation which was to put the case for the whole
Co-operative movement, and the emergency conference already
mentioned was held largely because of the provocation that refusal
conveyed. To that refusal was also due the speeding up of
the poUtical machinery of the Co-operative movement. The
holding of the conference resulted in the Prime Minister
receiving a deputation later, and Mr Gallacher, who represented
the S.C.W.S. board, spoke pretty plainly to the Prime Minister,
who complained to the deputation about their holding a
meeting against him.
The object of the control of food was highly commendable,
but what went wrong to prevent its proper application was
that the control committees forgot what the object was.
They were more concerned about " keeping the existing
channels of trade open " than they were about securing
suppUes at reasonable prices for the consumer. While
convinced of the costliness and the superfluity of the middle-
men, they were resolved if possible to keep the middlemen
in existence and impose their intervention on an organisation
that did not need them or use them before. Government
buyers and agents were undoubtedly necessary ; but, even if
they were, the Government could have saved enormously if it
had followed the example of the Wholesale Societies, which
appointed their tea buyer on a fixed salary and discarded the
system of payment by commission — a system which the
Government adopted too often in its food supply arrangements.
When all the difficulties and mistakes are fuUy measured,
there still remains the truth of the chairman's statement
282 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
already quoted : " The influence of the middleman has
weakened " (although not disappeared). " Competitive buying-
has, to a large extent, been supplanted. By this action the
Government has exposed the insufficiency of private enterprise
and has acknowledged the utiUty and economy of Co-operation."
A less biased commendation of the Co-operative principle
came from the editorial columns of the Glasgow Herald on the
eve of the first anniversary of the declaration of war when,
weighing up the cost and the sacrifice involved by the war,
the view was expressed that, if we could substitute, throughout
the world, the spirit of Co-operation for the spirit ot competition,
the great struggle would not be in vain.
XVII.
THE WHOLESALE AS A SOCIAL INFLUENCE.
THE PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE WHOLESALE THE VALUE OF EXAMPLE —
IMPETUS GIVEN TO THE WORK OF THE LOCAL SOCIETIES FINANCIAL
AID FOR SCHEMES OF SOCIAL AMELIORATION — ^WORKERS' REPRE-
SENTATION ON LOCAL BODIES DIRECTORS AS MUNICIPAL CELEBRITIES
THE INFLUENCE OF THE DELEGATES' MEETINGS THE SOCIAL SPIRIT
AMONG THE EMPLOYEES A MULTITUDE OF SOCIAL ACTIVITIES.
The Co-operative movement does not regard itself merely as
a trading concern. Co-operation is a law of Ufe. It seeks to
disestablish the individualism of the competitive system which,
in its most powerful form, is the apotheosis of selfishness, and
it seeks to substitute for it the spirit of Co-operation for the
common good of society. It tries to ehminate aU that will
provoke men to take advantage of one another ; to create a
human sympathy in the community ; and to dissipate all that
tends to perpetuate the inequity that has created masses and
classes and embittered the one against the other. In many
places the Co-operative society is the centre of social life as weU
as a great factor in the economic hfe of the people, and the
more perfect the society is the greater will it be both as a social
factor and an economic factor — the one no less than the other.
Notwithstanding its extensive interests and the multitudinous
fields of its activities, the S.C.W.S. cannot shed the social
features which pertain to its component societies. It cannot
regard itself as something outwith the people, and it associates
itself readily with all the heart-beats of the nation of which
it is part and of the towns in which its establishments are
situated.
Looking back over the records of fifty years we find many
evidences of this. The S.C.W.S. had scarcely embarked upon
its economic mission when it began to associate itself with the
infirmaries of the city. Its first step in that direction was
to subscribe £2, 2s., but in five years the annual subscription
284 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION JN SCOTLAND
had gone up to £20. In other five years the subscription
became £30, in other five it was £50, in 1887 it was £100,
and from 1891 till 1899 it rose at the rate of £100 a year till
it reached £1,000. Since then the rate has increased, and
since 19 16 the annual subscriptions to the maintenance fxmds
of infirmaries and hospitals have amounted to £3,000. In this
way, till the eve of the Society's Jubilee, £44,737 had been
subscribed. Besides that sums, varying with the demand but
amounting in all to £25,166, have been subscribed to building
funds, funds for the endowment of beds, and other special
funds connected with these valuable institutions. To the
building and maintenance funds of the Scottish Co-operative
Convalescent Homes £15,812 has been subscribed, and £5,755
has been subscribed to Co-operative memorials of one kind or
another. In a society so representative of the working-classes
it would only be expected that times of disaster would see the
S.C.W.S. acting sympathetically, and £2,046 has been
subscribed for the relief of distress caused by colliery
accidents, earthquakes, and famines. The S.C.W.S. does not
hmit its generosity to disasters affecting its own people, for
a famine in India, an earthquake in Italy, a colliery explosion
in Belgium, also make an appeal that is not disregarded.
To various funds for the rehef of distress caused by strikes,
lock-outs, unemployment, and other industrial trouble,
£7,218 has been subscribed. Educational institutions have
benefited by votes amounting to £1,750, not including £300
for Ruskin College. A contribution of £500 went to the
Co-operative Parliamentary Fund, a similar sum went to the
Co-operative Veterans Association as a Jubilee gift out of a
total of £30,000 devoted to Jubilee donations, and sundry
other good objects have had gifts amounting to £303.
When the South African War was in progress, £700 was
subscribed to the rehef of distress among the families of
Reservists. In the Great War of 1914 the S.C.W.S. was
constantly subscribing to one fund or another. The treatment
of the Belgian refugees at Calderwood is referred to in
Chapter XIII. ; but the Wholesale's donations to the various
war funds were no less than £24,219, besides £200 voted to
the Belgian and French Co-operative Societies' War Emergency
Fund — ^which is only a trifle of what the S.C.W.S. has
THE WHOLESALE AS A SOCIAL INFLUENCE 285
undertaken to do to help in the restoration of Co-operative
organisations in the devastated areas of Europe. Reference has
been made in a preceding chapter to the relations between
the Society and its employees. What has to be said here might
have been said there, but it appears to be more in the nature
of social service than economic influence. When the war broke
out a good many of the employees were Territorials or Reservists.
The directors agreed to give to the dependants of each of these
men the difference between Army pay and the wages paid by
the Wholesale. This, as can be imagined, relieved the men
called up of a great deal of natural anxiety regarding the
welfare of those they had to leave behind. Those who felt
prompted to serve the nation under the Colours left with the
same guarantee, and there is no gainsaying the fact that this
decision facilitated recruiting to a considerable extent among
the Wholesale employees. Up till the end of 1918 no less a
sum than ;^i28,797 had been paid in wages to employees with
the Colours. These men had their places kept for them ;
those who returned to work were all reinstated and received,
not only their old wage, but the increases that would have
accrued to them had they remained at work all the time they
were with the Forces of the Crown. It must not be forgotten
that these moneys were paid to all these purposes by the men
and women of the retail societies which were members of the
S.C.W.S. These retail societies were subscribing generously to
similar objects, and their members through their trade unions,
their friendly societies, their church organisations, and their
workshops ; and the Wholesale's contribution was an added
subscription, not only wilhngly given but insisted upon. It is
a fact worthy of note that the Co-operative societies in the
kingdom paid wages or allowances to their employees in the
Army and Navy which would probably be underestimated at
two millions while the war lasted. Of the S.C.W.S. employees
over 2,000 men joined up. Of this number 271 were killed,
24 were presumed to have been killed, 276 were wounded,
62 were invahded, and, at the end of 1918, 10 were missing
and 43 were prisoners of war. The following awards for
bravery on the field were gained — viz., twenty-one Military
Medals, eight Distinguished Conduct Medals, one Military Cross
and Bar, one Distinguished Service Medal, and one promoted
286 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
on the field to be a lieutenant. Two gained both the D.C.M.
and the Military Medal ; one of them was killed. Two of the
employees who gained the Mihtary Medal were also killed.
The Wholesale's interest in its own employees with the
Colours led to a kindly interest being taken in the wounded
soldiers in hospitals where the Wholesale had business
premises. The employees of the Wholesale acted with
splendid generosity in supplying gifts for these men, as well
as for those at the front, and they frequently arranged social
evenings for those in the hospitals ; but the Society itself
revelled in work of this kind. Special gatherings were held in
Glasgow and Edinburgh and Leith and Dundee each year at
which the men were royally feasted and entertained and
presented with smoking material and confectionery ; but the
greatest treats of all were the splendid cruises given in two
successive summers when large parties — 700 soldiers on one
occasion — ^were taken on specially chartered steamers down the
Clyde to Loch GoU. At the first of these, when the steamer
was nearing the Broomielaw, Mr Stewart, responding to the
votes of thanks which the cheering Tommies accorded the
Wholesale, expressed the hope that the day would not be far
distant when the world would be free of mihtarism. The
expressed wish was the signal for a fresh outburst of cheering
from the wounded lads who had learned something of the
social spirit of Co-operation.
Needless to say, all this had its effect on retail societies
which hastened to foUow the excellent example of the Wholesale.
Social gatherings for soldiers were held in almost every centre.
Work parties of employees in the S.C.W.S. and in the societies
and among the women's guilds were busy day after day Imitting
socks for soldiers, and where there were Belgian refugees they
were always hospitably entertained by the Co-operators.
The social enterprises of the Co-operative societies were
warmly helped by the Wholesale. The frequent visits paid to
the Wholesale factories by parties of Co-operators brought the
members of societies into a harmonious relationship that could
not exist among people who were simply customers at the one
shop. The fact of their joint ownership of the Wholesale
establishments, the fact that they were the employers of this
great army of workers, and the pride that they took in the
THE WHOLESALE AS A SOCIAL INFLUENCE 287
orderliness of all the establishments and the healthy surroundings
of the workers gave them a common interest, and filled them
with a common desire to promote the social well-being of the
employees and of the members for whom they worked. This
has reacted on the workers favourably, and has tended to promote
the kindlier feeling between these employees and their employers
which is an undoubted mark of the service, and which is some-
thing that wages alone could not produce. The frequent shows
held under the auspices of the drapery department and of the
dried fruit department also tended to develop the social spirit.
Every new factory opened, every new warehouse extension,
was made the occasion of a festive gathering which made the
Co-operators in Brechin and Galashiels not only members of
one association but friends. Even greater intimacy was
developed by the periodical exhibitions of Co-operative pro-
ductions held in different centres. One of these exhibitions
was held at the opening of the Paisley Road warehouse in 1873.
Others have been held in nearly every town in Scotland. At
first the district exhibitions were small affairs, and consisted of
a display of Wholesale products ; but they grew in scope and
magnitude and attractiveness. One of the first of the kind with
which Co-operators are famihar was held in Barrhead in the
early 'nineties. Even that was on a small scale ; but the last
pre-war exhibition was held in St Andrew's Hall, Glasgow. It
lasted for several days, and was typical of what had been shown
at most other exhibitions for some years. Every phase of
S.C.W.S. production was represented ; girls were seen at work
on clothing; and printing and bootmaking and brushmaking
machines were also seen by the thousands who crowded to the
place during the days of the exhibition. The Co-operative
societies in the area where such exhibitions were held were
usually invited to send delegates to a conference at which the
whole relations between the Wholesale and the retail societies
were discussed, the chief purpose being to forge the Unk of
friendship between Co-operators and their organisations. Even
the children were not overlooked, and the visits of the young
people to Co-operative establishments and the little parties
arranged for them at which the social sense was instilled into
them and the spirit of comradeship developed, have all had a social
influence the value of which cannot be either denied or belittled.
288 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
As a part of the social structure the S.C.W.S. and the
delegates attending its meetings have consulted the nation's
needs in many respects, and it has lent itself to the good of the
community. In 1908 the Society decided that any of its
employees who were elected to town councils or other public
boards should be allowed facilities for attendance to those
duties. The directorate has always had several prominent
members of municipal councils. Mr Maxwell, we saw, had
stood for Parhament. Mr Andrew MiUer, the last secretary,
was for long a BaiHe of TiUicoultry ; the names of Baihe
Murphy of Lanark, Bailie Stevenson of Kilmarnock, Bailie
M'Nab of Leith, Bailie Arthur of Paisley, Baihe Stewart of
Kinning Park, BaiHe Little of Galashiels, Bailie M'Donald of
Dumbarton, Treasurer Young of Musselburgh, Bailie Allan
of Perth, and Councillor Bardner of Dunfermline go to show
the measure of interest taken in pubUc affairs by the men who
have led the S.C.W.S. in our own day. Mr Robert Stewart
would have been Provost of Kinning Park had the burgh
retained its individuality for another year or two ; but on the
shoulders of the secretary, Mr Pearson, has descended the
mantle of the Provost of Alloa, and Mr A. B. Weir, one of his
colleagues on the board, is the Provost of Barrhead, from which
the S.C.W.S. itself may be said to have drawn the breath of hfe.
It need only be added that few of the members of the board
have not at one time or another been members of school boards,
and Mr T. B. StirUng is a couiity councillor. When the
movement decided that the time was ripe for the nomination
of Co-operative candidates for Parliament, the Co-operators of
hkely constituencies turned their eyes to the Wholesale board ;
but the directors turned theirs to the responsibUities of their
office and their duties to the great institution itself, and they
decided that, while the movement shoidd be represented in
Parliament, they could not serve the electorate in Parhament
and serve the Co-operators in Morrison Street and West Africa and
Leith and India at the same time. The shareholders took that
view also, after having digested the board's report on the subject,
otherwise several members of the board would have been subjected
to the tender mercies of the heckler at the general election.
One thing is certain, the experiences of the directors and of
the regular attenders at the Wholesale meetings have been an
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THE WHOLESALE AS A SOCIAL INFLUENCE 289
excellent education for public service. The men and women
who, week after week, are discussing the business of this great
concern intelligently, have a grasp of the things that matter.
The problems of employment and the organisation of industry,
the problem of food and wages, the problem of our whole social
relationships, all come under the purview of the directors and
delegates aJike, and without an intimate knowledge of these
things no body can legislate for an industrial nation.
The social spirit is largely developed among the employees
of the Wholesale as well as among the members. They, in
their various departments, do in their own way and in their
own name what the Society itself is doing in a larger sphere or
in a larger degree. They have their regular self-imposed levies
for philanthropic objects, and the pubUc institutions benefit
to the extent of over ;£i,ooo from the generosity of the employees.
Their contract at the desk or at the bench does not end there,
for many of them are active members of distributive societies
and meet at conferences and congresses and other Co-operative
assemblies. Apart from that, they have their own associations,
managed by themselves for their own benefit or amusement.
The Shieldhall printers, for example, inaugurated a series of
excursions to England on such a big scale that several special
trains were usually required to carry the party. This trip
might have gone on still but for the war. The " office picnic "
was for a long time an annual fixture in the Morrison Street
programme. Until the war, almost every warehouse had its
social gathering which established the best possible relations
between the ladies and, or, gentlemen employed there.
Shieldhall used to have its football club ; the drapery department
had its bowhng club, and the athletic tastes of the various
departments found an outlet somewhere. The " ofiice crowd "
had its debating society for a time, and its musical associations.
When a comrade was down Ul, his fellows could throw their
enthusiasm into working up a benefit concert, and one of this
" office crowd " tells with some little joy of the expression in
the face of a sick comrade and his wife on being handed a little
bag of fifty sovereigns raised by one of these concerts. We
have attended a smoking concert at which prizes were presented
in connection with a season's bowling. Nearly everybody got
a prize, and every prize was an article for a lady, so that there
T
-290 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
woiald be no obstacle in the way of the members joining again
the following year. We have witnessed " Rob Roy " produced
by a complete company of S.C.W.S. employees, with actors,
chorus, and orchestra all from within the establishment. The
Wholesale establishments are rich in magazine clubs and reading
clubs. In nearly every estabUshment there is a holiday fund
club. In the head office holiday fund the average income before
the war was about £3,000 a year, and one of the officials tells
us that if it were not for the holiday fund " most of us would
be broke when the Fair comes." The Employees' Sick Benefit
Society, which is open to all the employees, has distributed
nearly £6,000 among members who have been laid aside. The
latest organisation to be added is the S.C.W.S. Band, a combina-
tion of employees which bids fair to take a high place in musical
circles.
These associations are aU highly commendable, not only
for the immediate purpose they serve, but for the spirit of
fellowship they create and stimulate ; and such a spirit among
the 9,000 or 10,000 employees raises their occupation from the
level of what is usually called work to the level of social service ;
and there is probably no concern in the country whose employees
have a higher morale than that exhibited by the men and women
employees of the Wholesale.
XVIII.
CONCLUSION.
WHAT THE S.C.W.S. OWES TO SOME DEPARTED VETERANS SOME OF THE
SURVIVORS FROM THE EARLY DAYS A MEMBER OF THE ORIGINAL
BOARD ^DEAD HEROES AND LIVING TROJANS SOME HOLYOAKE
REMINISCENCES A FEW OF THE FORMER EMPLOYEES STIRRING
AGITATION OF THE PAST THE FIGHT OVER " PROGRESS " WHAT THE
FUTURE HAS IN STORE CO-OPERATION IN A SCHEME OF NATIONALISA-
TION NEW ENTERPRISES AHEAD JOINT ACTION OF THE TWO
WHOLESALES — THE COMING INTERNATIONAL C.W.S.
We have set forth the story of fifty years' progress in the
preceding pages, so far as that story can be generalised. The
story tells what the Co-operative system had to supplant, the
reform it was expected to effect, and how it has been effected.
It goes without saying that those who are most zealous for the
estabhshment of the Co-operative commonwealth — the ideal of
all true Co-operators — are not convinced that the goal has been
reached. We would be nearer the truth if we said that the
more zealous they are for that goal the more they are convinced
that it has not been reached ; and the zealous, more than
anybody else in the whole Co-operative movement, know full
weU that an ideal realised ceases to be an ideal and becomes
only the stepping-stone to greater things.
It has been impossible to go into the intimate details of the
great .Society with its living, thinking units, each of whom
beUeved in the reality of the reform which Co-operation would
bring, and many of whom would be amazed, were they spared
till to-day, at what has actually been accomphshed.
In the chronicles of the Wholesale there are records of many
full-dress debates to which considerable space was given in
the Co-operative press. Much could be culled from these ; but
we have had to content ourselves with setting forth the greater
factors which concerned the Wholesale and moulded it, and
built it up, into what it is now — a triumph of the persevering
292 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
efforts of the working-classes of the country. It has been
impossible to reconstruct many scenes that would interest
Co-operators of to-day ; for that would have been a task so
engrossing that we would have been tempted to enlarge upon
what, after all, were only incidents in the great journey which
began in 1868.
What that task would have been will be fully apparent to
those who have attended the quarterly delegate meetings for
any length of time, and we have tried so far as possible to
eliminate the merely personal episodes of the fifty years covered
by the review now nigh completed. The personal, however,
was a great influence in the early days. Take away the foresight
of the unknown " Juniper " of Hawick and Scotland's voice
would have been almost unheard while Henry Pitman was
strugghng to convince Co-operators — English and Scottish —
of the need for Wholesale Co-operation. Take away the
irrepressible doggedness of John MTnnes, and the S.C.W.S.
might never have taken shape. Despite his one blunder,
Borrowman did spade work that laid the foundations of the
structure of which Co-operators in Scotland are justly proud.
Everybody was not against him. He made a bold bid to set a
promising productive concern on its feet. Had the risk been
followed by success, many who, in the event, reviled him would
have praised his foresight. He failed, and he bore the penalty
of failure ; but the failure was not one which prevents
Co-operators of to-day raising their hats to his memory.
To-day, when Uttle seems impossible to the S.C.W.S., and
when no enterprise seems outwith its scope. Co-operators must
pay their respects to those who pioneered the Society — ^not only
to those who organised Co-operative opinion in favour of its
inception and organised the capital which set it out on its
great mission to revolutionise the domestic conditions of the
people, but also to those who conducted the business of the
Society in its opening years and engaged some of the officials
who stiU stand by the old ship.
Mr Richard Lees, a former stalwart in St Cuthbert's
Association, is the only member of the original board who
remains.* His name was greeted with cheers when St Cuthbert's
* News of the death of Mr Lees came to hand as these pages were ready
for the press.
CONCLUSION 293
Association celebrated its jubilee in 1909. It was greeted with
cheers when it was mentioned at the S.C.W.S. Jubilee, although
he was not present on that memorable occasion. Mr Lees has
shaken the dust of Edinburgh from his feet, and has been in
residence in Glasgow with his relatives for some years. His
hair carries the snows of years ; his hearing is impaired ; his
memory is not what it was ; but the occurrence of the S.C.W.S.
Jubilee aroused a keen sense of delight, and he was looking
forward to taking part. Indeed, it was with difficulty that he
was prevented from being present ; but the risk to his health
was too great, and so the old man sat in his armchair at home
and heard the wonderful story of the progress of the babe he
nursed to hfe fifty years before. Old directors have gone one
by one. The latest of them was Mr John Pettigrew, who
represented Beith Society on the board in 1879. His fortunes
drove him to Glasgow, where he was a devoted member of
St George Society for many years, and acted, for a long time,
as secretary of the delegates' council of St George.
Mr AUan Gray, still the cashier of the Society, always looks
back with pride on the early days when he acted as secretary.
Co-operators are deeply appreciative of his work, and when the
Jubilee arrived he was one of the most popular officials in the
Society. Mr David Rowat, another old director, is one of the
most respected Co-operative managers in Scotland. Mr W. F.
Stewart, who, despite his long years of service, would never
have grown old had the Government not inaugurated wheat
control, occupies a niche quite his own ; for had his vigorous
and candid eloquence not been devoted to promoting the
establishment of the Leith branch of the Wholesale, it is quite
possible that a separate wholesale society might have been set
up for the East of Scotland in the 'seventies of the last century.
It would have been a misfortune ; but Mr Stewart's eloquence
was convincing, and the S.C.W.S. took the step which gave to
the societies in the East the benefits they sought and so averted
a mistake. Mr Alexander Meldrum, the old president, who
gave place to Mr Maxwell's chum, Andrew Boa, is another
survivor of the past. Mr Meldrum has, for many years, been
an honorary member of the Central Board of the Co-operative
Union, and he stiU retains an affection for the Wholesale which
is only rivalled by his delight at its great achievements. We
294 WHOLESALE COOPERATION IN SCOTLAND
sometimes wonder, too, what would have happened to the
Wholesale if Mr John Barrowman had not allowed himself to
be persuaded to take the treasurership when he did. He
commanded the support of trade unionists, and won renewed
confidence in the Wholesale at a time when confidence was
shaken. His work for the federation has been described,* but
his record cannot be extolled too often. Mr John Allan, who
was revered by Co-operators in England and Scotland aUke,
though dead still speaks to us from the past, and his kindly
message to Co-operators at aU times breathes the spirit of
comradeship and bids them rise from all pettiness to the high
ideals of mutual helpfulness. Of those who still live to guide
the destinies of the Wholesale we dare say nothing. They are
men still subject to the authority of the quarterly meeting —
a tribunal not to be regarded lightly. But two presidents
cannot be passed over without a final word.
Mr Maxwell, now Sir William Maxwell, K.B.E.,t president
of the International Co-operative Alliance, who is probably the
best known Co-operator in Europe, climbed to his position by
sheer force of energy and ability. When he accepted the respon-
sibility of the presidency, he threw everything else aside. He
devoted himself to the task of building up the Wholesale solidly.
It was a task which had to be pursued by methods adapted to
circumstances. It might be that the exigencies of the service
demanded that he should be across the Atlantic seeking supplies,
or in England seeking help and advice from his English friends.
It might be that the Wholesale could be best served by his
attending a soiree in some obscure little village haU in Lanark-
shire or Fife — and on some such occasions, as he has frequently
told, he has not only had to deliver an address, but has had to
say the grace and sing a song. He did his work well in either
case. His successor has also climbed the ladder rung by rung.
There is scarcely a Co-operative district in Scotland to which
Mr Stewart has not given propagandist help ; and, though a
devoted Liberal in poUtics for many years, when it became
apparent that people elected to Parliament on the old political
issue were using their votes against a movement which could
• See pages 105, 111-2, 216.
t Mr Maxwell was knighted by the King and received the accolade at
Buckingham Palace in August 1919.
CONCLUSION 295
point to such an excellent record of useful work done on behalf
of the people, he cut the old bonds and declared himself on the
side of ^-operation and its ameliorative, unselfish pohcy.
In the chapters that have gone before we have alluded to
the more important events in the Society's history as fully as
has been permissible ; yet a fund of anecdote might be collected
from the pages of the past. The S.C.W.S. has rarely failed to
impress visitors, whether from Scotland or England or from
countries beyond the sea. Mr Holyoake's account of the
majority celebrations, for example, is specially noteworthy for
one interesting touch. Writing of the dinner at Shieldhall, he
said : " A large gilded 6pergne, stretched before the chairman,
in which golden fish disported, whose movements being reflected
on the mirrored surface below them, caused Mr Mitchell to
exclaim that the ' golden days ' of Co-operation had come.
More than six hundred persons dined sumptuously without
defect or inconvenience to anyone. There was not only
afSuence, but the affluence was always at hand. At the
Manchester Wholesale celebration, out of the number of waiters
engaged, seventy-nine never appeared, which caused great
defect of service. At ShieldhaU there was a waiter to every
ten persons." In the same account, referring to the laying
of the memorial stone of the new drapery warehouse, he
remarked that : " The ceremony was preceded by a prayer by
Mr Marshall, which was not too long, and had the happy grace
of relevance."
Mr Holyoake had a more interesting recollection of the
Glasgow Co-operative Congress of 1890. Part of the Congress-
arrangements provided for an excellent exhibition of Co-operative
productions. The Rochdale Society made a special show of
Co-operative tobacco, and when Mr MaxweU was showing
Lord Rosebery round the exhibition the attendant at the stall
kindly offered his Lordship a sample of the Co-operative
product. His Lordship was duly appreciative of the gift— so
appreciative that he produced it proudly in the evening for
some of his friends to share. Unhappily, however, the
attendant had given him a show packet which contained sawdust
instead of tobacco. The mistake had been discovered eventually
by the attendant ; but his Lordship had left the exhibition
by then. When the mistake was explained by Mr MaxweU,
296 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Lord Rosebery laughed at his discomfiture and enjoyed
the joke immensely. An effort was made to keep the matter
quiet ; but it was too good a joke to be lost, and Mr Holyoake
told the story in his special article on the Congress in the
Co-operative News.
Of the employees many interesting stories might be told,
and probably will be told some day ; but we cannot refrain,
even in this case, from recalling that on one occasion when
stocktaking was in progress, and when aU hands were turned on,
one of the stocktakers put on duty in the furniture warehouse
was a venerable old servant who did not like to be left out but
whose sight was not what it once was. He had been put on
to take the inventory in the linoleum department, and when
his sheet came to be checked there was a roll of linoleum too
many. He would not accept that and counted again, only to
be convinced that he was right. The checker went over the
stock with him, and then it transpired that the old man had
persisted in counting in an iron column as a roll of linoleum.
These little humours did lighten things at the Wholesale often ;
but they did not lessen the appreciation of the members for
the good work done by the employees, and the Society has been
well served by a devoted band of workers who, on the whole,
bear excellent records, while some stand out as shining examples
by reason of their excellent personal character. Reference has
already been made to old James Leggatt, the Society's
nonagenarian. From being a drawboy in a Paisley mill at the
age of eight to being a buyer in one of the biggest warehouses
in the country (with its two millions of a turnover) was a big
stride. He was the weaver of a plaid shawl which gained the
prize medal at the great London Exhibition of 1862, and the
shawl was afterwards shown at Berlin and elsewhere. Quite as
remarkable as his old age was James's record as a family man.
He and his wife were spared to live together for thirty-seven
years. They had a family of seventeen ; but they adopted
another, an orphan girl, because she was friendless, and, so far
as they were concerned, James and his wife mutually agreed
that an extra bairn would make little difference. At the social
functions held by the drapery warehouse staff — often dress
dinner — James was always present, even after he had passed
his eightieth year. With his Gladstone collar, his fine gold
CONCLUSION 297
watch chain round his neck in the old style and showing across
his shirt front, he looked a picture of contentment, refusing
proffered cigars and smoking what he liked best — a long, clean,
clay pipe filled with Shieldhall tobacco.
In the historical section of this volume there is appropriate
reference made to Mr James Marshall, the first grocery buyer
for the Wholesale Society, who succeeded Mr Borrowman as
the manager. Mr Marshall continued to act as buyer for a
time after he succeeded Mr Borrowman ; but there were other
buyers who left their mark on Co-operative annals. Mr Richard
Lees, whom we have already mentioned, was also a buyer in
his time. Mr Lees was succeeded as a buyer by Mr Robert
Reybum, manager of the Dumbarton Equitable Society ; but
Mr Reybum lingered longer on the Co-operative stage as an
active official, and came down to quite recent days as the
secretary of the Co-operative Drapery and Furnishing Society,
Glasgow. The branch of the grocery department for which he
acted as buyer is that now under the supervision of Mr Malcolm
M'Callum. In the historical section we refer to the first foreign
mission of the directors of the S.C.W.S. Mr Marshall may be
described as the first S.C.W.S. missionary in foreign fields, for,
in 1873 or 1874, he was sent to Denmark along with Mr WUde,
of the EngHsh Wholesale Society, in search of supplies of butter.
The quarterly meetings provided a rich store of anecdote
too. The meetings were looked forward to by the delegates,
particularly by the regular attenders ; and those who attended
a meeting for the first time were always eager to go back. When
we think of some of the great discussions that took place, we
are reminded of a street corner altercation we once overheard.
One speaker was telling his listeners what the country owed to
the Liberal Government. Old age pensions was cited as one
provision for which we were indebted to them, and one of the
listeners asked : Are you giving the Liberals credit for that ?
" It was not the Government that decided that," he added;
" it was us. We settled that at this corner." Many important
decisions have been arrived at at the S.C.W.S. meetings, and
many important new ventures have been agreed upon ; but
in many cases these were thought out in quiet, informal chats
among working men in their mills or mines before the societies
of which they were members decided to send notice of motion
298 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
to the Wholesale. The starting of the Leith branch, the opening
out of the depot at Kilmarnock, the appointing of the directors
as full-time men, even the starting of some of the productive
works, were all matters which, in many instances, had been
fuUy considered and planned by their advocates without formahty
— and without fear. The bonus controversy was probably the
most serious of all ; but some of the most rousing discussions
have centred round the Progress Society. This society is quite
unique among Scottish societies. The employees of the
Wholesale had had the privilege that was extended to the
employees of most big estabUshments in the country of making
cash purchases for themselves at wholesale prices. The privilege
obtains in most big warehouses yet ; or, if employees are not
suppUed at wholesale prices, they are allowed a considerable
discount on the ordinary retail prices, always on the under-
standing that the articles purchased are for their own use.
In 1895, however, the delegates at the quarterly meeting of the
S.C.W.S. discussed the question, and a motion was submitted
by Mr Clark, of Kilmarnock, that " the present system of
employees and directors having the privilege of purchasing
goods from the S.C.W.S. at wholesale prices be discontinued."
There were several amendments to this tabled at the same
meeting. Mr M'Lay, of Cowlairs Society, moved the subtle
amendment that the words " employees and " be deleted. It
would have denied the directors of the privilege which they
shared with the employees. The same view was in the mind of
Mr D. H. Gerrard, who was then a vigorous Co-operative
propagandist and a member of the Scottish Section. His
proposal was that the privilege should be exclusively confined
to the employees ; but he went further, and sought to hmit
the operation of the privilege to the department in which the
employee was engaged and to hmit the amount of the purchases
allowed to a maximum sum to be fixed by the directors and
pubUshed in the committee minutes. Mr Clark's motion was
carried to the great disappointment of the employees, and the
retail trade had to be confined to Co-operative societies. The
employees were alert, however. A number of them met, and
it was agreed to form a Co-operative society confined to
employees. This was done, and the society made formal
application for admission to membership in the S.C.W.S., the
CONCLUSION 299
application being granted. A fairly large warehouse was
eventually opened in Crookston Street, and the society did a
good business. The methods of the society differed from those
of other societies, because the business was run on the non-
dividend system, so that the members enjoyed almost the same
privilege through their method of trade as they would have
enjoyed had Mr Clark's motion not been carried. The extent
to which the trade of the society grew, however, rather amazed
other Glasgow societies, and the propriety of allowing these
methods to continue was frequently and vigorously discussed.
To recall the many interesting episodes would mean that we
should have to relate innumerable incidents centering roimd the
regular appearances of William Barclay and John M'Nair of
Kinning Park, of David Glass of Perth, Henry Murphy of
Lanark, John Welsh of St Cuthbert's, and of a host of others
whose identity must be sunk in the collective whole.
Much stiU Ues before the S.C.W.S. It wiU not be satisfied
until an enormous part of the food used by the people of Scotland
is grown by the application of Co-operative labour to Co-
operatively-owned land. Even should land nationalisation
come, and the Co-operative movement through its representative
Congress has declared that it should come, proper regard will
be shown, by any sane Government, to the needs of a body
catering as the S.C.W.S. does for the essential wants of nearly
half the population of Scotland. The greatest aim of the
movement is to make its members independent of all concerns
which simply live for profit -making ; and the enormous part
of the food supply which is, at one stage or another, controlled
by vested interests, appears to Co-operators to be one of the
greatest evils in our whole economic system. In the years
immediately to come, the S.C.W.S. will probably develop in
the direction of producing more and more food and more and
more of the raw materials. As has been the case in the miUing
trade, the S.C.W.S. may be rehed upon to produce as much as
is possible in Scotland, and when favourable opportunities in
Scotland are not available the Society wiU regard the world as
its oyster — ^to adopt Shakespeare's words — ^and will proceed to
open it. There is an enormous amount of food production to
come ; but the steps are being taken. Sugar refining is already
within the sphere of practical politics. The growth of crops.
300 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
as the references to the various departments* show, indicates how
much there is to be done in the way of producing wheat, oats, tea ;
but all cannot be done at once. Paper-making will one day
become an important Co-operative industry ;t but there is no
hmit to possibilities in Co-operative production. When we
think of the hundreds of thousands of garments that are made
and sold by the Co-operative societies of Scotland every year,
and attempt to reckon up what is required in these garments
but is not produced under Co-operative auspices, the possi-
bilities are large ; for there are buttons, and cotton thread and
hnen thread — to say nothing of the hundred and one other
"ingredients," so to speak, which go to the making of these
articles. The S.C.W.S. need no longer stand alone now. The
concordat arrived at between it and the C.W.S. points clearly
to a direct partnership between the two Wholesales with regard
to overseas ventures, and with regard to any other enterprises
in this country, which could not be successfully managed by one
society alone. ■ There is the still greater possibility forced upon
the minds of Co-operators by the war, but present there long
before — the possibility of a great International Wholesale
Society which would be a model of government to the whole
world, leaving each Wholesale Society full self-determination in
its own sphere, but combining all for the good of all in one
grand signed and sealed treaty of Co-operative effort for the
common good of the common people, who up till now have
been the last persons in the world to be considered by any one
in power. The lines upon which such an International C.W.S.
might operate are being carefuUy considered in every country
in Europe ; and, when once the war clouds are dissipated by
the fresh breezes of reason, we may witness the birth of that
great organisation which wiU be entitled to be regarded as the
Food Ministry of the Co-operative Commonwealth.
* See Descriptive Section.
t A paper mill has been acquired since this chapter was written.
DESCRIPTIVE SECTION.
MORRISON STREET.
What's in a name ? Despite the traditional question there is
a good deal in a name, especially when that name is Morrison
Street. That name conveys a great deal more to the Co-operator
than it does to the postman. To the Co-operator it means as
much as ' Downing Street " does to the politician. It is not
simply a location. It is something living. It connotes a centre
of strength and power. When a new Co-operative enterprise
suggests itself to the Co-operative enthusiasts, their first anxiety
is to know : What does Morrison Street think of it ? As the
centre of Co-operative strength in Scotland therefore, " Morrison
Street " signifies a great force ; and the Co-operator may be
pardoned if he believes — for he believes rightly — that the
operations of " Morrison Street " have been more consistently
directed with a view to helping the masses of the people than
the operations of " Downing Street." " Comparisons are
odorous," as Mrs Malaprop would say ; but there are times
when they are pardonable, and the comparison just made is
privileged in a volume like this.
If it be true — as Shakespeare thought it true — that one may
find sermons in stones, Morrison Street viewed only as a
thoroughfare should prove a veritable missionary crusade to
all who are concerned with problems of economic importance.
In Morrison Street and its offshoots there are to be found at one
end examples of the need that many people have of economic
and social salvation ; and at the other end there is the great
symbol of the most effective means yet devised of bringing
about that salvation. At one end there are the evidences and
effects of poverty ; at the other the great monuments raised by
people rising from poverty to comparative comfort. Traverse
Morrison Street from east to west, and there loom up larger
and nearer the great towers and fagades of the people's own
valuable property as Co-operative buildings meet the eye.
From the Paterson Street crossing to the end of Morrison Street,
where it merges in Paisley Road, there is nothing but Co-operative
302 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
property to be seen. Those who are away from that district
for a time are always impressed with the changes they find when
they retmn. Take the original part of the S.C.W.S. property
there — ^the eastern extremity of the triangular block enclosed
by Dundas Street, Paisley Road, and Morrison Street. There
are Co-operators alive who, when they saw that first erected,
declared it to be the most wonderful possession the working
people ever had. Look, when approaching the S.C.W.S. head-
quarters from the east ! With the exception of the dispensary
adjoining the stationery warehouse and the tenement on the
opposite side of the street, the whole line (on both sides) is
business property used by the S.C.W.S. ; and the dispensary
and the tenement are both doomed to disappear to make way
for more buildings en suite with the rest. Look down Paterson
Street from the stationery comer to the fruit warehouses ;
look up Paterson Street at the dimensions of the drapery
warehouse which now fronts Morrison Street itself ; look
further up Paterson Street and see the array of factories and
workshops in the distance. See the extending stationery
warehouse itself ; the sohd, ornate building now being erected
for the grocery departments ; the magnificent building capped
with its beautiful statue-crowned tower. Walk slowly round
the masses of Co-operative architecture and realise what
commercial developments, what changed conditions of the
people, must have warranted the erection of these stately
buildings one by one. Yet, not so long ago, the sites of the
stationery and drapery warehouses were occupied by villas.
Morrison Street was a back street and Paisley Road was the
main thoroughfare. The back gardens of the Paisley Road
villas were in what is now Morrison Street. The gusset block,
where the dining rooms are situated, was the British Workmen's
Coffee House. One house adjoining the site of the present
fruit warehouse was a lodging-house for the use of German
emigrants while they waited the vessels for America. The site
of the palatial premises was a fair ground, one of the most
conspicuous features of which was " Collins' geggie." The
Kinning Bum ran through the neighbourhood, and cows grazed
on its banks. The site of the drapery warehouse was occupied
by little mansion houses, and in some of these the work of the
Wholesale was carried on. The building occupied by the
MORRISON STREET 303
Scottish Section of the Co-operative Union — at the corner of
Wallace Street and Clarence Street — was typical of the district
in the olden days ; and that particular house was " Kingston
House," and in it the Samaritan Hospital was first located.
Even the Kingston Dock was not always the Kingston Dock.
At one time it was a pleasant little loch. The land now given
over to the dock constituted part of what was known as Windmill
Croft, a small estate owned by Alexander Oswald who died at
Shield Hall in 1813, and whose antecedents owned Madeira
Court and what is now called Oswald Street. They were a
worthy family — as many Glasgow monuments indicate — and
it is not without some significance that the principal centres
of S.C.W.S. activity in Glasgow have been estabhshed on ground
owned by the Oswalds who, in a different way, believed they
were doing useful service to the community.*
Developments in this neighbourhood are already shaping
themselves. In a short time the whole properties bounded by
Paterson Street, Paisley Road, and Wallace Street will be devoted
entirely to S.C.W.S. business. It is largely so already ; but the
new buildings now in course of erection, and the new buildings
designed to replace the old buildings at the two comers of
Dundas Street and Morrison Street, will make this area of
Glasgow one of the most important business centres in the whole
city — ^important because in these buildings the business carried
on is for the people and under the direction of the people
themselves. Even before now, distinguished visitors to the
city, passing these great premises, have betrayed no little
amazement on learning that they were the property of the
Co-operators of Scotland. It has even been predicted that the
Wholesale will one day lease a large part of the Kingston Dock
for its own import trade. That is speculation ; but it also
smacks of intelligent anticipation.
THE CENTRAL PREMISES.
When the palatial building which houses the central premises
of the S.C.W.S. was completed in 1897 there were many
indignant protests made in trading circles against the money
* Details of the family are given more fuUy in the descriptive account
of Shieldhall.
304 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of Co-operators being spent in buildings of this kind. The
building is only second in Glasgow to the City Chambers or, as
Continental friends would say, the Hotel de Ville, and it is a
magnificent symbol of the aspiration of the Co-operative
movement — to give the best to the people. The plans were
prepared by Messrs Bruce & Hay, architects, and there were
some misgivings about adopting the plan because of the ornate
character of the building. It was thought that something less
ornamental would suffice, and it was decided to dispense with
the towers. Second thoughts prevailed, however, and the
delegates at the quarterly meeting decided that the plans would
be adopted in their entirety, and that the Co-operative movement
would own the most handsome commercial building in Scotland.
The claim estabUshed then still holds good. The building is
not only emblematic of the aesthetic taste of the movement,
but it is an evidence of the comprehensive powers of the
movement. A cynical trader, ignorant of the ways of
Co-operation, once asked the writer : "Is that building in
Morrison Street paid off yet ? " It is only three years since
then, and the answer given was : " Yes ! It is not only paid
off, but it is nearly wiped off the books." In the Jubilee year
the balance-sheet reckoned the nominal value of the building
as £24,000, although the total expended upon the building —
including alterations, but exclusive of the site — is about ;£i56,ooo
up to date. The building is an evidence of the power of
Co-operation also, because it was erected by tradesmen employed
by the Society itself, under the superintendence of the late
Mr James Davidson, who did all the work except the sculpture,
the glazing, the iron work, and the marble and mosaic work.
The building occupies nearly an acre of ground, and if we
give a detailed description of it here it is because many
Co-operators do not quite follow its Unes and cannot interpret
its symbolism. The building has three sides to pubhc streets
— Clarence Street, Crookston Street, and Morrison Street in which
the principal front of 215 feet overlooks the Kingston Dock.*
The design is after the French Classical Renaissance of the time
of Louis XIV. The building occupies five storeys and a base-
ment, and is built of stone from the quarries at Giffnock in the
neighbourhood of the residence of the president of the Society.
* See pages 303 and 367.
FISH AND FISH CURING
OPERATIONS AT THE ABERDEEN STATION
(I) Frail Fish Department. (2) Fish Curing Department.
(3) Finnan Kiln,
FISH AND FISH CURING
OPERATIONS AT THE ABERDEEN STAtlON
(1) Cod Liver Oil Rendering Plant. (2) Cod Liver Oil Refining Room.
(3) Packing and Despatch Department.
THE CENTRAL PREMISES 305
The fa9ades of the building are rich without excess, with an
appearance of symmetry without stiffness, and the details are
all harmonious.
At the main entrance, in Morrison Street, there is a double
set of grey pohshed granite columns with Ionic capitals and
bases, and a dado with carved panels, with Cupids face to face
gracefully holding the hand of Unity. The pediment is finished
by a beautiful carved shield ajid a wreath of Plenty springing
from the valutes of the cope. The main pediment at the base
of the tower is fiUed with emblematic sculpture in alto-relievo.
In the centre are two figures representing Justice and Labour ;
and, to the right and left, figures representing Africa, Asia,
Europe, and America, surrounded by their national emblems
all beautifully carved. On the apex of the pediment stands
the " tower-crowned Cybele " — whom the ancients regarded as
the goddess of the earth — ^with Uons on her right and left,
symbolising Strength and a power that fears no difficulties.
Behind the figure rises the tower, 70 feet high, divided into
bays by Ionic columns, between which are niches and pedimented
windows, and over it a modillioned cornice and a dado, inter-
spersed with balusters, copes, vases, and eyelet windows, and
surmounted by a graceful figure representing Light and Liberty,
holding in her hand a torch, the guidingf Star of the West. It
was with some comprehension of the beauty that was in danger
that Co-operators flocked to the neighbourhood when the great
fire involved their magnificent building on 3rd September 1911.
Till the early hours of the following morning the writer stood
with a group of reporters, aU of whom were reluctant to leave
tiU the figure would fall — the emblematic figure of Light and
Liberty. It swerved slightly in the torturing heat ; its supports
were softened and bent ; it was thrown forward ; but the
symbol of Light and Liberty held on grimly to the lofty pedestal
upon which working men and women had placed it. Could
symbolism be more complete ?
Entrance to the building is obtained by an ornamental
wrought-iron gate in the Morrison Street fagade — a fagade
which measures 150 feet to the head of the tower. The floor of
the spacious vestibule is laid with mosaic, and the walls lined
and richly panelled with Sicilian marble and Parisian cement,
and divided into bays by quarter pilasters and Ionic columns
306 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
supporting a modillioned and enriched frieze and cornice.
Beyond the vestibule is a large entrance hall and staircase, and
right and left from it corridors lead to the boardroom, hbrary,
committee rooms, buyers' rooms, and grocery saleroom. On
the entresol facing the vestibule is a bronzed bust of Robert
Owen.
The boardroom is elegantly furnished throughout. The
floor is done with parquetry, in walnut, oak, plane-tree, and
pine ; and the walls are divided into bays with mabogany
fluted and carved pilasters, having Corinthian capitals and
bases, and resting on a mahogany panelled and moulded dado
supporting an enriched frieze and cornice. The ceiling is
beautifully decorated with Louis XIV. ornaments, with specially
prepared casts having centres for electric Ught. A special
feature is the Caen stone mantelpiece, 12 feet high, carved with
natural foUage and supported with SiciUan marble and alabaster
columns, capitals, and bases. The hbrary is a beautifully
appointed room, only equipped and furnished for this piurpose
a few years ago. The furniture is some that earned the
Society's own cabinet factory high commendation at one of
the Glasgow Exhibitions. The saleroom, which is crowded
with eager buyers — on Tuesdays and Fridays especially — is one
of the most handsomely equipped salerooms in Great Britain.
The showcases of mahogany, with mirror backs and unique
electric-Ughting arrangements, are magnificent specimens of
the skill of the employees at the cabinet factory ; while the
exhibits they contain demonstrate that the S.C.W.S. productive
works have nothing to learn in the artistic make up of goods.
The committee rooms and the buyers' rooms are all well but
modestly furnished.
The first floor is given over to the accountant, the cashier,
and the auditors, and an army of clerks, with weU-Ughted and
well-ventnated of&ce accommodation, private rooms, and strong-
rooms and safes. On this floor is situated the telephone exchange,
which employs an expert staff whose chief duty is to connect
callers with the officials or departments they want. It is
probably one of the largest private telephone exchanges in the
busy city. This floor constitutes the heart of the great business
concerns of the Co-operative movement in Scotland. All the
intromissions involved in the Society's trade of 19J millions—
THE CENTRAL PREMISES 307
from the purchase of a new stool for the office on the Gold
Coast to the investment of a quarter of a miUion — are known and
registered here by the head office clerical staff to whom the
information is conveyed by the departmental clerks whether
in Glasgow or West Africa or Canada. That stafi comprised
in the Jubilee year — and before demobilisation — 214 female
clerks and 131 male clerks, in the appointment of all of whom
the great chief, Mr Macintosh, has been consulted. The " head
office " has been aptly described as " the great nerve centre "
of the Wholesale. Some derisive things have been said of
" the woman in the counting-house " ; but the record of the
clerks employed in what is known as the " ladies' office " at
Morrison Street evokes nothing but commendation for attendance,
punctuality, and efficiency, and that somewhat rarer virtue —
civihty. At the central premises probably about 1,500 letters
per day arrive by post. The letters are handled by a special
corps of clerks, who sort and open the packets and stamp the
contents, each dehvery being stamped with the date and
distinguishing letter so that in any subsequent complciint the
office can tell not only the date of receipt, but the particular
dehvery which brought the communication. There is no office
in which better order is maintained in the routine duties of
the staff, or in which records are kept longer or with greater
exactness or accuracy.
The upper floors of the building are devoted chiefly to business
conducted as part of the furniture department, and other parts
of the building are devoted to the grocery business. These are
dealt with in their respective places in this descriptive portion
of the volume.
In all parts of the building there are the most improved
facilities for the dehvery and dispatch of goods. There are
fire-proof stairs at the extreme points of the premises and one
passenger hft. In the basement there are engines and
accumulators and dynamos in connection with the passenger
and goods elevators and plant for the hghting and heating of
the building. For insurance purposes the building has been
divided into two sections by a strong party wall, and has
communication on each floor by double iron doors ; and the
entire premises have been equipped with the latest form of
sprinkler fire extinguishers. There are remarkable strong
308 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
rooms and safes for the protection of valuables, books, and
papers, and the internal fittings are all of the most ornate
character as befits a building so imposing.
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS.
The Wholesale's grocery and provision trade is distributed
over the Glasgow, Leith, and Dundee departments in the
financial reports. Formerly Kilmarnock was also shown
separately, but recently the sales from the Kilmarnock depot
are passed through the Glasgow warehouse accounts. The
Glasgow, Leith, and Dundee centres have their own " spheres
of influence," and trade done by S.C.W.S. departments with
societies in any part of Scotland is shown in the accounts for
the centre to which that society's area is allocated. The
grocery department is further sub-divided for convenience and
efficiency and for the closer scrutiny of the Wholesale's
operations. What is generally described as the " Glasgow
Grocery " comprises about seventy departments, or sub-
departments. Each of these is under its own head. That
head, in most cases, is responsible to a higher of&cial ; and,
apart from specialised departments, the majority of the
distributive departments of the Glasgow grocery are classified
in four groups, with regard to each of which comprehensive
reports are submitted to the directors by an official chiefly
responsible directly to the board. Similar sub-divisions are
found at Leith, but the departments are not so numerous and
all are arranged in three groups. No. i, for example, comprises
butter, cheese, sugar, syrup and treacle, tea, coffee, cocoa and
chocolate, etc. No. 2 deals with dried fruit, tinned fruit, green
fruit, fish, soap, aerated waters, preserves and confections, etc.
No. 3 takes hams and bacon, lard, fats, oils, tinned meat and
tinned fish, cereals, feeding-stuffs, margarine, etc. At Dundee
and Kilmarnock, while there are departmental divisions, they
are fewer in number.
The extent of the grocery and provision trade may be stated
in figures, but we fear the figures convey very Uttle to the
man-in-the-street. If we were to teU him that the S.C.W.S.,
in six months alone, sold 25,o8i| tons of sugar, that its sales
of tea in a like period' amounted to 1,747! tons, that its butter
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS 309
■sales accounted for 81,574 firkins and 4,264 tons, that the
margarine sold weighed 2,355! tons, and the flour sold amounted
to half a miUion bags of 280 lbs. each, we fear he could not fully
comprehend the immense quantities disposed of ; yet each of
these totals is included in a half-year's trade. In a booklet
pubhshed for distribution at the Glasgow Exhibition in 1911
there were some illustrations that were helpful. One of these
showed that the butter sold in 1910 would fill a cask wider
than the roadway of the Jamaica Bridge, Glasgow, and over
100 feet high. It showed that the tea sold in 1910 would fitU
a case as wide as Morrison Street, almost the entire length of
the S.C.W.S. central premises, and fifty feet high. The tea
sold in 1918 was fifty per cent, more than that. In 1918 the
total sales in the goods under the control of the grocery
committee of the directorate amounted to £13,977,452, 7s. gd.,
to be exact. These figures comprise all the grocery departments.
Up tUl the end of June that year — to the end of the quarter
-which preceded the completion of the fiftieth year — the total
net sales through each of the grocery branches were Glasgow,
;fii3,059,07i, OS. 2d. ; Leith, £41,542,246, 19s. 8d. ; Kilmarnock,
£3,790.236, 8s. iid. ; Dundee, £5,178.953. 14s. 6d.— a grand
total of £157,580,508, 3s. 3d. This, in groceries and provisions,
represents a wonderful turnover for a business originated and
■directed by people of the most slender financial resources.
The chief grocery centre is at 95 Morrison Street. A con-
siderable part of the central block, bounded by Morrison Street,
Crookston Street, and Clarence Street, and extending almost
to Wallace Street, is given over to the grocery business.
Probably before this volume gets to the hands of the reader
the grocery centre wiU be transferred to the palatial building
nearing completion, which fronts to Morrison Street at the
corner of Clarence Street. The whole property in that block
between Morrison Street, Clarence Street, Wallace Street, and
Dundas Street is S.C.W.S. property. The portion between
Wallace Street and the lane which runs between (and parallel
to) Wallace Street and Morrison Street is already utilised for
storage and dispatch ; the corner portion at Morrison Street
and Dundas Street, where the insurance department has its
temporary office, cannot be converted for the present owing
to lease rights of the principal tenants ; but the other portion
310 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
will be utilised for the grocery department, and will thus make
a splendid centre. Besides these blocks, some of the Glasgow
grocery departments — eggs and green fruit — find accommodation
in the buildings behind the stationery warehouse at the corner
of Dundas Street and Paisley Road ; some other departments
are housed in the gusset buildings between Morrison Street and
Paisley Road ; and the potato department occupies temporary
premises in the old buildings at the comer of Dundas Street
and Morrison Street, which will eventually be demolished to
complete the drapery warehouse.
In the central premises (on the right), in the corridors
stretching from the entrance hall, are the private rooms of
Mr W. F. Stewart, the commercial manager of the flour and
meal mills, and Mr Duncan, the cattle and meat buyer ; while
on the left are the private rooms of the heads of the other chief
grocery departments. There sit the men whose chief fimction
it is to keep the Co-operators of the West and South and
Midlands of Scotland provided with food. Mr Ebenezer Ross
is the veteran of the grocery department, and when it is
mentioned that he is responsible for tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate,*
butter, and sugar, the reader will surmise that he has had
troubles in plenty during the war period. The S.C.W.S. enjoyed
an excellent reputation for its butter supplies tiU the war upset
everybody's arrangements ; but if the Co-operators complained
during the war about their butter rations, all they had to say
was that they were not supplied so plentifully or so cheaply
as before the war — ^in which respect they were no worse off
than anybody and better off than most. In 1891 Mr Ross was
sent to Denmark and to Finland in search of sources of supply.
The result of that was the estabUshment of the Aarhus branch
which, acting jointly for the English and Scottish Wholesale
Societies, has given the two federations plentiful suppUes of
butter noted for its undoubted excellence. There were no
S.C.W.S. creameries then, but seven years later EnniskiUenf
began to supply its own excellent products, which are not
second even to the best Danish. In 1900 Mr Ross gave evidence
before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the
subject of Butter Supply.
* See page 425.
t See Creameries and Milk Centres, page 352.
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS 311
The Wholesale bought all its sugar from brokers till March
1878. Then it began to buy direct from Greenock refiners.
The question of acquiring a sugar refinery has been considered
from time to time as a purely Scottish venture, and consideration
has also been given to the prospect of establishing a sugar
refining business in conjunction with the EngUsh Wholesale
Society, and in one form or another a plan will probably be
carried out before very long.
Associated with Mr Ross in Glasgow as responsible heads
of the chief groups of grocery departments are Mr Malcolm
M'CaHum, Mr John M'Donald, and Mr A. S. Huggan. It is
not possible to follow the various commodities dealt with in
detail, but a reference may be made to some of them which are
not dealt with under special headings in subsequent pages.
Eggs, which, it is said, were invented for the benefit of
husbands who have to cook for themselves when their wives
are on holiday, constitute a large part of the S.C.W.S. trade.
One of the chief sources of supply is EnniskiQen. From the
Enniskillen centre employees of the S.C.W.S. attend the fairs
and markets for mUes round, and have estabUshed their own
extensive system of Irish egg collection. On a recent visit to
Enniskillen we passed through two great haUs with obscured
windows and air-tight doors, and with a decidedly cold
atmosphere, where between two miUion and three miUion eggs
lay in pickle. These were collected about March when eggs
were plentiful, and preserved for the winter when the poultry
are not so industrious. Thanks to the efficacy of the pickling
system, the eggs are as healthy when they reach the table as
when they are deposited in the pickle tanks, each of which
holds about 80,000 eggs. Before being sent out for use each
egg is tested, and those sent out from Enniskillen have a high
reputation for quahty. Loads of fresh eggs are, of course, sent
off to Scotland without being pickled, and in one year
Enniskillen has handled as many as 34J miUion eggs. Ireland,
however, does not exhaust the Wholesale's sources of supply.
Denmark, Canada and the United States, and Russia were large
suppliers formerly. The war cut off the Russian supplies and
brought Egyptian eggs into the homes of the Co-operators,
and hquid eggs also made a useful departure which helped to
tide people over a trying time. When the state of Europe
312 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
pennitted, the Wholesale's buyers made periodical visits to the
countries most likely to meet the growing demand of the
Co-operative societies for eggs. Egg testing is also a fairly big
undertaking in the Wholesale's business, and thousands of
cases — chiefly of foreign origin — are scrupulously tested.
Dried fruit, green fruit, and tinned fruit sold by the
Wholesale run into hundreds of thousands of pounds per
annum. Buyers and directors have regularly journeyed to the
Orient in order to secure the best dried fruits for the use of
Co-operators, both in their own homes and in their bakeries,
and their direct purchases and direct shipments of currants,
sultanas, muscatels, and other dried fruits (ventures in which
the EngUsh and Scottish Wholesales combined) ensured
excellent quahties at the most advantageous prices. For
many years the dried fruit shows and sales at Glasgow and
Leith were interesting events eagerly looked forward to by the
managers, salesmen, and directors of Co-operative societies.
Peace in the Balkans may perhaps lead to the revival of these
gatherings. Canned fruits have also been imported direct in
large quantities as the result of explorations made by the
Wholesale buyers. The green fruit trade is also extensive.
Soft fruits are grown to some extent on the Society's own
estate at Calderwood,* but the quantities required are so
enormous that Calderwood is not large enough to grow them.
Large quantities are bought direct from the growers, and during
the season the huge motor lorries of the S.C.W.S. are seen at
dfiybreak carrying the crops from the Clydeside gardens to the
Co-operative stores in Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Renfrewshire,
and Dumbartonshire. Rhubarb, oranges, apples, bananas,
grapes, tomatoes, and onions are gathered from almost all
parts of the earth, where they are grown, by direct import and,
as in the case of the dried fruits, by the enterprise of buyers
sent direct to the chief sources of these articles ; for the
S.C.W.S. has not only to supply Co-operators with these fruits,
it has its own extensive preserve works to keep supplied with
raw materials.
The grocery departments reflect many changes that have
been effected in the people's food standards during the war.
In margarine, t for instance, the sales prior to the war represented
*See pages 181, 422. f S.C.W.S. products have increased 10%, see page 356.
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS 313
an output of 1,054 tons ; but before the Armistice the sales had
^one up to nearly four times that amount. In canned meats
and canned fish, also, the pre-war sales might be stated as
31,580 cases, while for 1918 they reached something Uke 65,000
■cases.
The potato department is one which shows wonderful
■organisation. The organisation of this department was planned
and effected during many years of labour by Mr John Macintyre
Avho, for the greater part of his life, was one of the stalwarts of
Co-operation in the Vale of Leven. The Wholesale, like other
big potato merchants, had to derive its supplies partly from
abroad, the Canary Isles and the Channel Isles being very
largely tapped for early potatoes. In addition to this, Mr
Macintyre inaugurated the practice of buying fields of potatoes
in all parts of the country before the popular tubers were ripe.
The harvesting was done by a large number of Irish field workers
accustomed to come to Scotland for the season. The Wholesale
■did not depend upon chance ; and Mr Macintyre picked his
workers in Ireland — chiefly from the Donegal district — and
these were sent for when the first S.C.W.S. fields were ready for
lifting. In this way only reliable workers were engaged, and,
thanks to the care devoted to the provision of housing accom-
modation, the Wholesale's potato harvesting operations were
carried through with an absence of the scandals attendant upon
such operations where the field workers employed were casuals
picked up on the roadside and kept together in primitive
promiscuity. The Wholesale had the same workers coming year
after year ; they began their labours where the earliest crops
were ready — usually about the southern Ayrshire coast, where
the climate, mellowed by the Gulf Stream, usually produced the
earliest British potatoes. On Mr Macintyre's death, Mr Hugh
Campbell, who had been the Society's potato salesman at Leith,
was appointed manager of the department, and further develop-
ments were noted. One of the most important innovations of
recent years has been the leasing of land for the planting of
potatoes. In 1914 the Society planted 3,157 acres ; and potatoes
are grown for the Society on the Springside Estate, purchased in
1917. The sale of potatoes is conducted through the various
S.C.W.S. grocery centres ; and in 1918 the amount sold was
50,225 tons. The department was warmly complimented by
314 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
buyers for retail societies upon the splendid supplies it was able
to secure during the most trying years in the war period.
We may include the cattle and meat trade under the heading-
of the grocery departments of the Society, for these are super-
vised by the grocery committee of the board. Due tribute has.
been paid to the services rendered by this department to the
Co-operators of Scotland during the most critical periods of
the Butchers' Boycott.* To have conducted this trade for
the Wholesale Society in the face of the virulent and unscrupulous
opposition to which the Wholesale had been subjected during
all the years since 1896 is evidence of admirable organisation
and of the credit of the S.C.W.S. The department began in
1888, and the present buyer, Mr William Duncan, has been at
its head from the beginning. At first, the S.C.W.S. simply
bought cattle for the societies on a commission basis ; but there
were suggestions from various quarters in favour of the stocking
of cattle. Mr Maxwell, who was chairman of the directorate
at the time, warned the societies that to adopt this suggestion
would mean that the Wholesale would probably have to stock
10,000 head. That was not thought desirable. In 1892,
however, the Wholesale leased a grazing farm in Stirlingshire,
Carbrook Mains, where cattle bought by the Society were fed
until required. The lease expired in 1901, and there were
reasons for not renewing it — ^reasons which deprived the
experiment of success. In 1901, another farm was leased at
Carntyne, near Glasgow, for the same purpose. In 1903, an
expert buyer was appointed in Ireland to secure supplies of
Irish cattle "to be bought at first hand and forwarded to the
retail societies without the intervention of a single inter-
mediary," to quote Mr Maxwell. The embargo placed upon
the importation of Canadian cattle was vigorously fought
against by the S.C.W.S. and the whole of the societies in the
Co-operative Union ;t but the agitation was fruitless.
The war had a serious effect upon the cattle and meat trade.
Meat to the value of 33 millions was imported into the country
in 1914 ; and it is easy to understand how that trade would
be affected by the submarine danger ; and the governments
of the AUied nations had the first call upon meat supplies for
the enormous armies mobilised during the period of the war.
* See page 156. t See page 157.
THE GROCERY DEPARTMENTS 316
The S.C.W.S. department had sales amounting to £273,334
in December — a figure which would be enormously greater but
for the fact that societies in country districts bought cattle and
beef very largely as local produce. The war brought the price
of beef up to a level it had not reached in this country since the
Franco-Prussian war ; that reduced the demand considerably,
and the demand was stiU more seriously affected by the strict
Rationing Orders enforced by the Government during a large
part of the war period ; but the sales of the S.C.W.S. during
1918 amounted to £554,739, and even that was a decrease
(through rationing) of £63,994 from the previous year's trade.
Poultry are collected at EnnisMllen and dealt with by the
grocery departments ; but it is impossible to go into details
of aU the ramifications of these departments. Evidence of the
importance of the grocery departments is afforded on the buying
days — chiefly Tuesday and Friday in Glasgow, and Tuesday at
the other centres. On these days the beautifully appointed
salerooms at these warehouses attract the grocery buyers of
the Co-operative societies of Scotland who enter the portals of
the S.C.W.S. premises, knowing that those premises are the
property of their societies, and that the business conducted
there is conducted for the benefit of, and at the behest of, the
working people who constitute the mass of the membership of
the Co-operative distributive society in city and village ahke.
The grocery dispatch department at Glasgow is separately
organised, and had a staff of 135 employees before some of them
were mobiEsed for mQitary service. The department deals,
among other things, with shipments arriving for the Wholesale,
and the extent of the operations carried on may be conceived
when it is mentioned that in 1918 the department handled
57,767 loads of goods, comprising 2,394,476 packages, equal to
106,461 tons ; and even this was an average weekly decrease of
349 packages.
LEITH GROCERY BRANCH.
While the headquarters and central premises of the Wholesale
Society are at Morrison Street, Glasgow, for many commodities
the Leith branch of the Wholesale is to all intents and purposes
the marketing centre for societies in the East of Scotland. The
buyers from societies in the East go there to sample goods, to
316 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
make inquiries, and to do what the buyers from the West of
Scotland do at Glasgow.
How the branch came to be established has been told in the
Historical Section;* but since then, 1877, developments and
extensions have taken place which make the Wholesale premises
one of the most attractive buildings in Leith, not only because
of the comeliness of the building, but also on account of its
excellent site. The Links of Leith in front, with its broad
expanse of well-tended spaces, sets off the imposing pile of
Co-operative buildings which stand on the eastern fringe of the
people's playground. The architecture follows the stately hues
so characteristic of Wholesale buildings, and the massive, artistic
front attracts attention. The dilapidations of the adjoining
ground no doubt detract a little from the general appearance,
but the S.C.W.S. will soon remove that when building restrictions
make it possible for the directors to set impending extensions
in process. Plans already devised will mean an outlay of about
;£8o,ooo upon the proposed extension.
The front portion of the building, or the original part,
consists of five fiats and a large beisement store ; while the newer
building in the rear has an extra storey and a large attic, which
has been the scene of fruit shows, baking competitions, and
other seasonable displays. The various departments, although
congested as a result of the extraordinary developments of the
trade, are very extensive.
The main entrance leads into a vestibule, off which are
several private offices, including the sanctum of Mr Robertson,
the manager. At the side is the saleroom where buyers assemble ;
and the main stairway leads to the commodious and well-
appointed genered offices and boardroom. Immediately above
are the dining and smoke rooms and the kitchen ; and still
higher is the stationery .department.!
The manufacture of aerated waters is carried 6n on the
ground floor of the extensive establishment ; and ham-curing
is conducted on the top floor. A number of tradesmen —
engineers, electricians, and joiners — are employed here ; for,
besides the usual structural work required from time to time,
the society generates electricity in the premises. Otherwise
there are no productive works at this branch.
''See pages 103 et seq. t See page 333.
LEITH GROCERY BRANCH 31 T
The main distributive departments are confined to the rear
buildings. There are green fruit and egg departments on the
ground floor ; cheese and general grocery and sundry stores
on the first floor ; tinned meats, fruits, and dried fruits on the
second floor ; and the remaining floors are used chiefly for the
storage of cereals and sugar. There is also machinery for
grinding sugar and for cleaning the dried fruits. All the depart-
ments are linked up by numerous stairways and elevators, and
the latest equipment for deaUng with outbreaks of fire is
installed. At the Society's jubilee, 174 persons were employed
at the branch ; and, of these, 38 were girls.
To Mr W. F. Stewart belongs the honour of being the first
manager of the Leith branch, besides being one of the most
eager advocates of its establishment. He held his post there
from 1877, when the trade of the branch was only £30,984, till
he was transferred to Chancelot mill on its opening in 1894. In
1894 the sales from the branch were £706,466. Mr Peter
Robertson, the present manager, succeeded Mr Stewart, but he
had been in the service of the society since 1887. It was Mr
Robertson's lot to see large extensions, and he may be spared
to see the now contemplated extensions carried out. In 1913
the sales from Leith had reached £1,656,767 ; but for the
society's fiftieth year the Leith trade amounted to £2,801,378.
KILMARNOCK GROCERY BRANCH.
A CHAPTER in the Historical Section records the inauguration of
the Kihnamock Branch of the Wholesale.* The departure was
made in order to provide a depot for the collection of the
agricultural produce of Ayrshire ; but its sphere of operations
was extended, it sought its suppUes in adjoining counties, and
began to sell direct to societies in the district whose buyers
found it more convenient to go to Kilmarnock than to go to
Glasgow. That has changed somewhat, and a number of buyers
from Ajnrshire and the South- West now travel more regularly
to the Glasgow central warehouse ; and the sales made through
the Kilmarnock branch are credited to the various Glasgow
departments.
* See page 105 et seq.
318 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The Kilmarnock premises are situated in Grange Place,
Woodstock Street, and Fullarton Street ; and represent an
expenditure of about £22,000. Cheese, butter, eggs, bacon,
and oatmeal are the chief articles in which the branch deals.
Potatoes used to be an important branch of the Kilmarnock
business ; but the potato department is separately organised
now.* Bacon curing is carried on also. The sales from the
Kilmarnock branch were separately recorded for the first time
in 1882, when for six months they amounted to £15,443. In
the intervening years since then they have fluctuated slightly ;
but the trend has always been vigorously upwards, despite an
occasional decrease in comparison with a preceding year. For
1914 the total recorded amounted to £145,803 ; and for the
last twelve months (till June 1918), for which the sales were
separately credited, they amounted to £274,819. These figures
represent only the sales direct to retail societies ; but, in addition
to these sales, the branch transferred goods to the Glasgow,
Leith, and Dundee branches amounting in these respective
years to £167,788 and £333.615. The total sales to societies,
from the keeping of a separate Kilmarnock account tiU the
end of June in the jubilee year, amounted to £3,790,236 ; the
expenses incurred amounted only to 4'57d. per £ of sales, and
the net profit, averaged over all these years, was equal to
7-42d. per £. As indicating the nature of the operations carried
on between Kilmarnock and the Wholesale's other departments,
it may be mentioned that one year's handling of agricultural
produce included 66,844 cheese, 13,683 pigs, 2,302 'sacks of
oatmeal, 1,649 cwt. of fresh butter, and 235,037 dozens of
country eggs.
DUNDEE GROCERY BRANCH.
The Co-operators of the North of Scotland were seriously
handicapped in comparison with Co-operators elsewhere because
they were so remote from the S.C.W.S. centres. Some of the
oldest societies in the country were in the North of Scotland ;
but they were not members of the Wholesale because, with
wholesale warehouses nearer at hand, they did not see what
particular advantage was to be gained from a Wholesale ware-
house in Glasgow or Edmburgh, and so Co-operative societies
* See page 313.
DUNDEE GROCERY BRANCH 319
there dealt with private merchants because it was thought to
be more convenient. It was because they recognised that
there was a good field to be cultivated for Co-operation that
the S.C.W.S. directors decided to plant a branch in Dundee.*
This branch, unUke the establishments at Leith and KUmamock,
was not forced upon the directors by the Co-operators of the
district ; it was simply the outcome of the desire of the directors
to bring the Co-operators of the North inside the Wholesale
fold, and the branch was, therefore, something like a mission
station.
Premises were leased, in Trade Lane, and the business was
commenced in 1882. The warehouse was in close proximity
to a whisky store, and the Wholesale paid the penalty of its
evil association, for in 1906 a fire, rendered particularly
disastrous by the inflammable nature of the " hot stuff,"
destroyed the building completely. Temporary premises were
secured in which the business was carried on, but a site was
purchased, and on this was erected the present substantial and
modern warehouse.
The new building was formally opened on 3rd July 1909 at
a well-attended gathering, at which Bailie Isaac M'Donald
presided. The opening ceremony was performed by Bailie
Henry Murphy, and stirring addresses were deUvered by these
gentlemen, as weU as by Mr Robert Stewart, Mr John Clark, of
Perth, and Mr John Barrowman, the manager and pilot of the
Wholesale enterprise in Dundee.
The warehouse is built on a site which covers 810 square
yards, with frontages to Sugarhouse W3md, Seagate, and Queen
Street. The chief frontage is towards Seagate, along which it
extends about 100 feet, and this is designed in a simple form
of the Renaissance style of architecture. The centre portion,
which has rustic work to the height of the first floor, is finished
at the top with a stone pediment and panel. The building is
in two portions. The back portion, a one-storeyed building,
is utilised for receiving and dispatching goods, and vehicles
have access from both Sugarhouse Wynd and Queen Street to
the spacious loading docks. The front portion has four storeys
and a basement, and at each end of this portion are electric
hoists and a stone staircase communicating with the various
* See page 111.
320 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
floors. The total floorage is about 18,000 square feet. The-
front entrance is in Seagate, where an arched doorway and tiled
vestibule give access to the warehouse and to the offices which,
are situated on the street floor. The erection of the .building
was under the direct supervision of the Society's own master of
works, the late Mr James Davidson.
Mr Barrowman* did heroic work here till his retirement,
when he was succeeded by Mr James Wilkie, his assistant.
The first year's operations at Dundee amounted to ;£ 13,508 ;
but they gradually increased in value tUl in 1914 they reached
the total of £228,171, which amount was increased to £377,541
in the jubilee year. Up till June of that year the total net sales
of the branch, from its inception, amounted to £5,178,953,
achieved at an average of 27d. per £ for working expenses, and
yielding net profits of 7'23d. per £. The branch has still a
weary row to hoe ; but it has done even better than was
expected by many ; it has increased the membership of the
Wholesale, among Northern societies, and helped to increase the
membership of these societies in turn by helping to make the
wages of the worker go a Uttle further.
THE DRAPERY WAREHOUSE.
The drapery warehouse in Glasgow, whether it be viewed from
the south or from the north, is a splendid structure of which
Co-operators are wonderfully proud. They are more proud of
what the warehouse represents, for it stands as the centre of
a grand alliance of three spinning and weaving mUls, twelve
factories, and a combination of nearly sixty departments all
engaged in occupations connected with the production and
distribution of drapery and kindred goods, and recording total
sales amounting to £3,231,236 for the year 1918. The
warehouse, bounded by Morrison Street, Dundas Street, Wallace
Street, and Paterson Street, has about six and a half acres of
floor space. At present the comer building at Morrison Street
and Dundas Street is not part of the warehouse, although it
is Wholesale property; but, as is hinted in the notes on
" Morrison Street," it soon will be. The present warehouse
represents a co-ordination of a group of warehouses which were
* See pages 109, 111, 112.
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SPINNING AND WEAVING
0) Ettrick Mills, Selkirk. (2) Taybank Jute Works, Dundee,
(3) Ayrshire Blanket Mills, Galston.
THE DRAPERY WAREHOUSE 321
built at different times as the progressing departments required
elbow-room ; but there is still a unity as well as a variegation
in the architectural lines followed.
When the first part of the building was erected in 1887, at
the comer of Dundas Street and Wallace Street — a relic of
which period is seen in the now un-utihsed door at that comer
— ^the drapery warehouse comprised also the boot and shoe,
furniture, and stationery showrooms. A few years later the
warehouse was extended to Paterson Street, this extension
providing the imposing fa9ade in Wallace Street; and an
entrance at the comer of Paterson Street harmonised with that
at the comer of Dundas Street. In 1909 a considerable addition
was made by the erection of a wing in Paterson Street. There
was, however, one serious handicap. Internal communication
was not possible, for these various additions practically con-
stituted separate warehouses. It was decided to alter the
internal arrangements, and in 1910 this alteration was
completed, creating a new main entrance in Wallace Street
(where the old goods outlet was) and providing a new main
staircase which gave access to , all the departments of the
warehouse. In September 1914 there was a further addition
to the warehouse by the extension of the Paterson Street Aving,
and in 1918 the last addition made converted the drapery
warehouse into a Morrison Street property.
The Wallace Street fagade — ^which some still think the more
ornate aspect of the warehouse — ^has a frontage of 214 feet.
The building in Dundas Street has an extent of 152 feet ; in
Paterson Street it extends to 210 feet ; and while there will
be a frontage of 214 feet to Morrison Street when the block is
completed, at the end of the jubilee year it only extended to
about 180 feet. In Wallace Street — the old front — the faQade
is chiefly characterised by the handsome doorway, surmounted
by a richly sculptured pediment, leading to a noble vestibule
and entrance hall lined with mahogany and marble. The
central feature is the graceful tower, which rises to a height of
130 feet ; at each end of this elevation is a circular turret which
completes the symmetry of the ta.qa.de. The turrets complete
comers of the structure, which rise to graceful pediments resting
each upon four sets of twin columns with sculptured capitals,
which in tum are based upon omamental pilasters. The
322 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Morrison Street elevation varies in style, but its stately pro-
portions will not be so clearly recognised till the whole of the
elevation is completed to Dundas Street. There is a splendid
arched doorway ; the centre of this elevation is also dominated
by a tower ; and the building impresses passers-by. The front
entrance here gives access to a spacious haU, from which open
the private rooms of the manager and his assistants. Sde and
show rooms, stock rooms, special fitting departments, receiving
and dispatch departments, a retail societies' customers'
department, office, and a tearoom are included in the warehouse.
Under the aegis of the drapery department there is run a
waste department. It came into being about 1900, and its
operations are specially interesting. Most people have an
impression of what a tailoring department floor is hke at the
end of each day's work. Rags, scraps of canvas, bits of linen
and cotton, cuttings of tweed and serge, seem to litter the floors.
Shirt and dressmaking workrooms are Uttle better. Drapery
departments — ^where hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of parcels
are being dispatched or received in a day — present a mass of
broken twine and rope and sheaves of waste wrapping paper.
Then there is the litter of waste paper from the other warehouses
and offices. The collection of all this mass of rubbish is
admirably organised by the waste department, which converts it
into the medium which goes to help up the Wholesale dividend.
There is no saying where the rubbish may get to — ^we know
what it is, but we know not what it may be, or to what sacred
or profane uses it may be put ; but there seems to be a market
for everything. Yorkshiremen get some of it to Dewsbury
and Batley. They say the finest rags they get are cuttings
from Ettrick mill serges. The women who work at the rags
here could distinguish the Ettrick mill cloth from other makes
— ^by the fine feel of the Co-operative production. Paper and
cotton rags go to the paper-makers ; and everything has an
immediate destination known to the waste department. The
department, which puts tons of "rubbish" through its processes,
had sales to the amount of £2,900 in 1908. That was considered
good then, but in 1918 the turnover reached £8,700.*
* The mantle factory is housed in this building. For description, see
"The Clothing Factories," page 379. See also "Shirts, Hosiery, and
Underclothing," page 382 ; and " Other Glasgow Centres," pa^ 34S.
THE DRAPERY WAREHOUSE 323
When the drapery department began in 1873 there were
three employees, of whom the only survivor is Mr David
Gardiner, J.P., the general manager, who, however, was shortly
afterwards joined by Mr George Davidson, who was still in the
service at the time of the jubilee celebrations. At the end of
1918 there were 425 employees in the department, and 204 on
miUtary or naval service.
The trade of the drapery department comprises only drapery
and kindred trades, and its operations, therefore, must be con-
sidered in that light in view of the fact that so many wholesale
drapery estabhshments include boots and shoes, jewellery,
furniture, and furnishings. The opening of the various additions
to the warehouse always gave rise to special celebrations, and
the annual spring, autumn, and special shows of millinery,
mantles, and other goods which vary with the seasons always
attract large attendances of buyers and directors from societies,
who meet at dinner and exchange views about the business and
its management. We have had the good fortune to attend
about thirty of such assemblies, and there has never once been
any comment offered that was not to the credit of Mr Gardiner
and his assistants.
In connection with the department there is a London office
and depot, where the latest London and Continental goods are
shown periodically, where inquiries are conducted as to the
development of the trade, and where the interests of Scottish
societies are looked after. Thousands of transactions are
carried through there on behalf of the department. When the
war broke out the sales of the drapery department amounted to
£1,387,027, and the jubilee year brought a grand total of
£3,231,236, which represented i6'8 per cent, of the total sales
made by the S.C.W.S. The manager of the department, on the
many occasions when he is congratulated on the magnificent
figures he records, always pays tribute to the assistant managers,
Messrs James M'Gilchrist and William AUan, both old servants
of the Society, and to the buyers for retail societies. He never
tires of commending the hearty Co-operation given by the
departmental heads and by the staff as a whole. Lest, however,
the retail societies might flatter themselves on doing too well,
he usually reduces the trade to what it represents per member
of the societies with which his trade is done. Worked down in
.324 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
detail like that for 1918, it represented £5 per member, or
slightly less than 2/ per week for clothes, hosiery, napery,
millinery, bed clothes, collars, gloves, and the hundred and one
articles which the average member requires for the family and
household over which he or she presides.
FURNITURE WAREHOUSE AND SHOWROOMS.
The representatives of the co-operative societies in Scotland
have no reason to complain of the excellent opportunities they
have of inspecting all classes of furniture and furnishings at
the S.C.W.S. warehouse and showrooms. It has already been
mentioned that the furniture trade of the Wholesale was
formerly done as part of the business of the drapery department,
as is stiU the custom in many large drapery warehouses. Even
after the accounts of the two departments were separated and
they were placed under separate management, they were still
housed in the same buUding. When the central premises were
opened in 1897 the furniture department was given accom-
modation in the new building at " No. 95," and there the depart-
ment still has its headquarters, although it has expanded from
floor to floor until it now claims three floors, with attics and part
of the basement of the building, for its own. In addition to
that, there is a commodious furniture warehouse in Chambers
Street, Edinburgh. In the last normal year— that which ended
in June 1914 — the trade of the furniture departments amounted
to £420,678. That is done, literally, under the Wholesale's own
roof, and it indicates an enormous advance from the period when
the furniture department was little more than an agency which
ordered from other warehouses what the retail societies required.
Now the representatives of these societies may go to the S.C.W.S.
warehouses and inspect the choicest furniture — of which there
is a wonderful stock and variety — displayed under the best
possible conditions.
The furniture department's headquarters are situated on the
floors above the counting house at Morrison Street ; and there
Mr WiUiam Miller, the manager of the department, and Mr T.
Fenwick, assistant manager, have their private rooms. On the
left of the stair landing is the furniture showroom ; or, perhaps,
it would be more correct to say the showroom begins there, for
FURNITURE WAREHOUSE AND SHOWROOMS 326
it extends almost round the building, so that the buyer who
enters the door on the right of the landing need only go straight
on and he will arrive also at the showroom. This showroom is
a wilful provocation to visitors to spend money on furniture.
It is laid out with superb taste ; it displays superb furniture ;
and whether the buyer from a society wants to furnish a single
apartment or a mansion he will find there all he wants to
■complete the order. Several rooms are laid out as models of
drawing room, dining room, or parlour ; and the visitor is shown
how the articles sold in the establishment will look when they are
sent home if the lady of the house displays a little taste in the
arrangement of the rooms. Suites, chairs, couches, divans ;
sideboards, tables, pedestals, bookcases ; overmantels, mirrors,
and hallstands ; writing desks, escritoires, and consulting
tables are in distracting variety, and the variety repeats itself
in the woods and coverings used in the multitudinous articles
shown. So the tour of the showroom begins with the elaborate
and the costly goods and finishes with the homelier, though
scarcely less tastefully constructed, furniture of the kitchen.
On this floor also will be found the French polishers, who give
a final touch up to every article before it leaves the premises.
On the opposite side of the landing the china and glassware
showroom is situated ; and there is no more beautiful showroom
in the trade to be found in Scotland. Here one can inspect
what the gudewife calls her " using dishes " — the tea and dinner
things for ordinary every-day use — ^but they are articles that
people must bliy. The art of salesmanship is demonstrated in
the display of articles that people buy because they are made to
like them. In this art the china and glassware department
excels. A large salon, with walls decorated in white and gold,
except those walls which are covered by magnificent mirror-
backed, electrically-lighted showcases, provides an art gallery
teeming with beautiful articles in crystal, china, and almost
every known variety of pottery. It strikes the casual visitor
as being incredible that these articles are only intended for said
to co-operators, who comprise few people outside the ranks of
the working classes ; but the whole furniture warehouse provides
eloquent evidence of the bien condition of the co-operators —
whatever may be said of the conditions of other workers — and of
the growing sense of the artistic in their desires. Plant pots
326 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLANp
and bulb-bowls mounted on pedestals or tastefuUy arranged on
tables; cut and figured flower tubes and epergnes-^ome
mounted in silver on mirror stands— plaques, vases, and orna-
ments, besides glassware for table use, the most exquisite tea
sets and dinner sets, and an extensive range of bedroom and
trinket sets ; this might be a general description of the contents
of the showroom. It is an inadequate description, however.
Among the vases and ornaments are beautiful designs in Royal
Porcelain, Doulton, and Rozane ware ; pedestal and plant pot&
in Bretby ware form at times a feature of the display ; but the
salon is rarely without a choice collection of Royal Dux orna-
ments. Some of the centrepieces in this last-mentioned ware,
consisting of groups of cattle and aesthetic human figures, are
veritable gems of pottery.
Adjoining the china showroom is the optical, photographic,,
and art department. The showroom displays the same tasteful
appearance as the departments of the warehouse already
described. Charming pictures — oil paintings, water-colours,
engravings, photogravures, and high-class prints — for sale to
Co-operative societies, adorn the walls. The showcases contain
large varieties of picture and photo frames in wood, silver, brass,
bronze, art metals, and all other known varieties. Cameras and
photographic apparatus and material of all kinds ; field glasses
and opera glasses ; spectacles and all kinds of optical instru-
ments are on show and sale here. Two of the best-equipped
sight-testing rooms in Glasgow form part of the estabUshment.
An accomplished staff attends to members of societies sent there
to be tested, and members of the staff visit societies aU over
Scotland for sight-testing on days fixed to suit the convenience
of the co-operators of the various districts. The staff of the
department undertakes photographic work for the Wholesale
itself and for retail societies. Portraiture is not yet rmdertaken
except in special circumstances ; but a good deal of indoor and
outdoor photography is done ; and the development of plates
and films and printing and enlargement from the negatives is a
regular occupation of the department. Kinematograph
exhibitions are provided for co-operative entertainments as
also the illustration of lectures and the making of lantern slides.
The jewellery department is another interesting branch of the
furniture warehouse. Every conceivable article that the well-
FURNITURE WAREHOUSE AND SHOWROOMS 327
to-do worker chooses to buy for himself or his wife ; or that the
members of a Co-operative association care to present to a
deserving colleague may be selected there. The timekeepers
range from the smallest wristlet watch to the stateliest
" grandfather clock " that chimes the hours and quarters ;
brooches, ear-rings, necklets, and pendants ; silverplate and
rich specimens of the goldsmith's art ; bronze statuary and gem
ornaments — almost everything known as jewellery is to be seen
on inquiry at Morrison Street. It is so different from the time
when the trade was started and when the stock was kept by Mr
Macintosh in the of&ce safe.* The department now occupies a
large floor space above the furniture showroom. A music
department specialises in musical instruments of all kinds from
the Grand piano required for a Co-operative hall to the flageolet
which a tolerant parent gives to his son. The department also
supphes any music that Co-operative players ask for ; and it
has a concert direction which provides companies for Co-operative
entertainments, very often working in connection with the
kinematograph section of the optical and photographic depart-
ment.
All the departments of the furniture warehouse cannot be
described in detail ; but they comprise carpets, beds and bedding,
linoleum and floorcloth, cutlery and hardware, cycles, bags and
leather goods and smokers' requisites, ironmongery, tinware,
perambulators, brushes, and toys department, all working
under their departmental heads, each of whom is a speciaUst in
his own line.
EDINBURGH FURNITURE WAREHOUSE.
The Wholesale Society found it necessary, in order to meet the
convenience of the societies in the East of Scotland, to open a
furniture showroom in Edinburgh. The trade so developed
that storage accommodation had to be secured, and eventually
the showroom developed into a full-blown warehouse as
attractive as any owned by the Society.
The property in Chambers Street, where the warehouse is
situated, was purchased in 1897. The street has many historic
associations. It is named after Dr. WilUam Chambers, the
*See page 121.
328 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION JN SCOTLAND
well-known publisher, who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh
when considerable city improvements were effected. His
statue stands in the middle of the street opposite the Royal
Scottish Museum, one of the most important in the kingdom.
When Chambers Street was laid out in 1871 it traversed some
old Edinburgh squares which, like Canongate itself, had shed
their residential glories. On the same side as the S.C.W.S.
warehouse Guthrie Street branches off. This was formerly
known as the College Wynd, and in it stood the house in which
Sir Walter Scott was born. On the same side is the Church of
Scotland Training College, which prepares teachers for the
public schools, and Heriot-Watt College, which has given
excellent opportunities for evening study to Edinburgh citizens.
The original property which the S.C.W.S. devoted to warehouse
purposes was formerly the Free New North Church, which was
erected about 1878. This was occupied by the Wholesale in
1898 — although purchased in 1897. It is scarcely a base use
to which to put a sacred edifice ; for if Christian ideals were
preached in the building to begin with, the system of trade and
the principles which govern Co-operative trade are but the
appUcation of those ideals in practice. Among the old squares
demolished in 1871 was Argyle Square in which stood Minto
House, the first town house of Lord Minto. Lord Minto was
Sir George Elliot, who became a Judge of the Court of Session
after a distinguished career at the Bar. He made a name for
himself by his successful defence of William Veitch, a Covenanting
minister ; and — ^prior to his elevation to the Bench — ^he was
suspected of faciUtating the escape of the Earl of Argyle, and
had to flee to Holland. After the death of the third baronet,
Minto House was the residence of Sir William Naime of
Dunsinnan, also a High Court Judge. Later, the house, like
so many old Edinburgh mansions, was divided into smaller
dweUings for the humbler folk ; but in 1829 Professor Syme
had it fitted up as a surgical hospital. Finally it was swept
away and on its place was erected the " New Medical School of
Minto House," and this was the church purchased by the S.C.W.S.
In 1908, owing to the very considerable extension of the trade of
the warehouse, the S.C.W.S. purchased Minto House, and this
and the old church constitute the warehouse as it exists to-day.
That purchase practically doubled the size of the warehouse.
EDINBURGH FURNITURE WAREHOUSE 329
and the completed premises were opened with some jubilation
on 14th December 1909.
The wish expressed at the opening ceremony by Mr Alexander
Mallace, of Edinburgh, that " the East of Scotland should find
everything necessary there without having to go to Glasgow "
has very nearly been realised ; and the Edinburgh warehouse
has served a very useful purpose. The trade has been growing
more and more comprehensive. For the first forty-six weeks
it was opened [i.e., till the end of 1897) the trade was ^27,867 ;
when the Minto House addition was completed it had reached
^£64,000 ; the outbreak of war found it at £94,156 ; and in the
jubilee year it had reached £135,615. A notable feature of the
trade in normal years was the number of cycles sold. Since
1906 the warehouse has been under the supervision of Mr George
Carson, who entered the Society's service as a boy, and was
trained in the business under Mr William Miller in the Glasgow
warehouse.
STATIONERY AND ADVERTISING.
Stationery and advertising are separate departments of the
Wholesale Society's business, and they are bracketed together
here because the two departments have their headquarters in
the same building between Paterson Street and Dundas Street,
on the north side of Morrison Street.
The dimensions of the stationery warehouse, as indicated in the
picture pubhshed in this volume, will perhaps convey some idea
of the extent of the business done. Already the premises,
although only occupied since 1913 by the stationery department,
have proved to be too small, although part of the building
formerly occupied by the Scottish Co-operative Friendly Society
has been requisitioned by the stationery warehouse. An
extension of the building is now in progress, which will continue
the front further west towards Dundas Street, so that in the
finished warehouse the front door, which appears in the picture
to be near to the west end, wiU be in the centre of the
building.
The marble and mahogany lined entrance leads to the ground
floor of the warehouse through a substantial hall. A broad,
well-lighted staircase communicates with the upper floors, and
330 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
there is also a hydraulic elevator communication from the
basement to the top of the building, which, however, is chiefly
used for goods. The ground floor is used chiefly for the paper
warehouse, guillotine room, and dispatch department. The
first floor is given over to the purposes of the showroom and
saleroom ; and it is one of the most attractive showrooms in
the trade in Glasgow. The department is so admirably organised
that societies' representatives, whether their business be to
give orders, to select goods, or to consult the manager (Mr
David Ross), have no occasion to go to any other part of the
warehouse. The manager's private room occupies part of this
floor. Opening from the principal showroom is a smaller room
used chiefly by the staff for preparing goods for dispatch. The
showroom is handsomely furnished with artistic showcases, and'
all classes of stationery and printed goods are on view, from
ornamental stationery cases and inkstands to scribbling blocks.
An evidence of development in recent years is seen in the
wonderful collection of books, from Bibles and classics to the
most popular volumes of light literature. The second floor is
used as the store for miscellaneous printed matter and writing
papers. The third floor is the store for stocks of bags, twine,
and paper ; and the attics and basement are used for storing
heavy stock. A goods entrance opens from Paterson Street,
and there are two loading and unloading tables against which
lorries and vans may be drawn up. These tables open into the
ground floor of the warehouse where the receiving and
dispatching departments are situated.
The department derives a very large proportion of its supplies
from the Society's own productive works, particularly from the
printing department ; and the big extensions in the printing
department in recent years have been largely due to the Society's
growing trade in stationery of all kinds. The supplies of goods
that have not yet been included in Co-operative productions
are purchased from the best firms in the trade ; and the
developments of late, which resulted in a big increase in the
trade of the department, have been due chiefly to the fact that,
owing to the incessant pressure of the manager of the stationery
department and the department's ability to provide for all the
requirements of the people, retail societies have devoted
considerably more attention to the stationery business ; and
STATIONERY AND ADVERTISING 331
this has been to the advantage of the members individually
and collectively.
A number of the articles selected at random from the
department's invoices shows the wide range of goods dealt in.
These articles comprise notepaper, ink, pencils, pens, fountain
pens, stylos, ink-bottles and stands, rulers, notebooks, paper
flowers, serviettes, paper dominoes, paper blinds, playing
cards, toilet rolls and fixtures, diaries, dictionaries, standard
poets. Bibles, dessert papers, slates, jotters, Christmas cards,
wedding invitations, visiting cards, erasers, macrame twine,
scraps, wedding-cake boxes, table centres, novels, toy books
and picture books, calendars, files, news-cutting books, and
other articles which are too numerous to mention. Of the
extent to which the trade is growing it is enough to record that,
while the whole stationery trade of the Society amounted to
about ;f75,ooo in 1904, when the business was all done from
Glasgow, the trade of the Glasgow warehouse alone for 1914
was £91,213, despite the dislocation of supplies of paper which
occurred in the latter part of that year owing to the war and the
big slump in the Christmas card trade for the same reason.
It was only in 1913, however, that the department had room to
develop, and the improved facilities for trade provided to the
department brought its recompense in a trade of £269,421 for
1918 with societies, apart from sales to the S.C.W.S. departments
and factories, amounting to over £35,000 for the year.
The advertising department, as at present known, is a
comparatively new creation, having been established in 191-2.
When the Co-operative societies were small in membership and
Umited in operations, and the S.C.W.S. was proportionately
less in importance than it is now, advertising was unnecessary.
The Co-operative productions were known to all members of
the societies and were asked for, and advertising was then
regarded as a needless tax on trade. The only form of advertising
indulged in at that stage was the holding of exhibitions of
Co-operative productions in centres where there were Co-operative
societies whose members might be enlightened as to the extent
of the Wholesale's operations. The Co-operative exhibition was
a feature of every Co-operative Congress — till the war made it
necessary to suspend them — ^but some of the S.C.W.S. exhibitions
held from time to time were glorious attractions for several days
332 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
at' a time in many a country town, while even Edinburgh and
Glasgow people have found them attractive. Band performances
and concerts were some of the usual side shows ; while the
cocoa kiosk, from which cups of Co-operative cocoa were
dispensed gratuitously to visitors, was one of the most popular
features of the exhibitions. The International Exhibitions held
in Glasgow and Edinburgh almost invariably comprised S.C.W.S.
exhibits,* and when Glasgow became a centre for a section of
the British Industries Fair after the outbreak of war, there were
few exhibitors who could provide so comprehensive collection
of such excellent productions and manufactures.
Apart from these exhibitions, the S.C.W.S. rarely advertised
except in official Co-operative publications, such as the Wholesale
Societies' Annuals, the Co-operative newspapers, descriptive
booklets, and in programmes for Co-operative meetings. The
designing of show cards and bills for display in the stores was
left largely to the printing department staff, and this also
applied to labels and wrappers for Co-operative packages — work
which is still partly left to them.
With the frenzied advertising of the manufacturers of so
many commodities and the rapid and extensive growth of
Co-operative membership, which brought into the movement
many not familiar \vith the real significance of Co-operative
industry, it became necessary for the S.C.W.S. to advertise
more generally than was necessary before, the separate advertising
department was established, and Mr James Orr, of the counting
house staff, who had been organising the exhibitions and the
publicity connected with them for a good many years, was
placed in charge of the new department.
Advertisements run in about forty Scottish and daily papers
and twenty periodicals, exclusive of the Co-operative publica-
tions. If one goes to a theatre or music haU it is almost certain
that a Co-operative advertisement will be seen on the curtain
or on the programme. It is so also with concert and cinema
programmes. Ingenious electric signs flash out the message of
Co-operation. Attractive posters on the hoardings and extensive
painted advertisements on specially selected gables on the
principal tram routes shout at people the insistent message
" Join the store nearest your door." Signboards on tram cars,
* See page 306.
STATIONERY AND ADVERTISING 333
at railway stations, on railway bridges make the same or a
similar exhortation. Much to the annoyance of Glasgow traders,
the Co-operative advertisement appeared on Corporation band
performance programmes hung in the Glasgow tram cars.
Somebody wrote to John Bull about it, but the story was not
told properly and John's onslaught missed fire. Special summer
advertising campaigns have been instituted at hoUday resorts
and at athletic gatherings. The advertising of S.C.W.S. produc-
tions in Co-operative pubUcations, including societies' and guUd
programmes, year books, and membership cards, is pretty
extensive ; and the departmental staff keep the Co-operative
shops weU supplied with showcards, cut-outs, and window
biUs.
At every turn, one might say, Co-operation proclainis its
presence. The advertising department only spends between
;f6,ooo and £7,000 per year, or about one farthing for every £3
of sales. Some concerns pay for advertising at rates varying
from 2j per cent, to 10 per cent, of their turnover, but then
their advertising is the chief merit of some businesses, as state-
ments from the judicial bench have shown from time to time.
The Leith stationery department is housed in the Links Place
premises, where it occupies one of the upper flats. The depart-
ment is " cribbed, cabined, and confined " by the limitation of
floor space ; but, in the meantime, it contrives to keep abreast
of the volume of trade by appropriating any little vacant spots
that it can find in any of the other departments which share the
shelter of this warehouse with it. It has been an undoubted
advantage to societies in the East of Scotland to have the
department in the midst of their Co-operative activities, and the
Wholesale has gained because it has, through the department,
retained trade and attracted trade that could not otherwise have
been catered for. The Leith branch was established in 1904,
Mr David Ross taking charge in the first year as has already been
stated. He remained, in fact, till 1906, when Mr Thomas Porter
was placed in charge. As an indication of how the trade has
developed, it may be mentioned, that, while -the trade of the
whole stationery department was about , X76,ooo in 1904, . the
Leith branch alone did a trade of £79,874 in 1918, and, the
Glasgow warehouse had a trade of £322,905 in the same year.
These figures include the transfers of goods to other departments
334 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
of the Wholesale as well as sales to the societies ; but the sales
to societies were £76,625 from Leith and £269,422 from Glasgow.
Increases in the price of all classes of paper and stationery no
doubt swell the totals— the sales in 1914 were £22,803 from
Leith and £91,214 from Glasgow ; but the difference in prices
does not account for the difference because in the intervening
period between these two years an extensive trade in literature,
official and other pubhcations, and a number of other new lines,
was developed. A considerable quantity of the goods sold from
the two stationery warehouses is produced at the printing works
at Shieldhall.*
INSURANCE AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.
The question of insurance had exercised the minds of Co-operators
for a long time, and in 1867 the Co-operative Congress decided
that a Co-operative Insurance Society should be established.
The society made considerable headway in several directions,
but in 1912 the Co-operative Insurance Society became a
department jointly owned and jointly managed by the two
Wholesale Societies.
This section of the Wholesale's business is one that is bound
to grow. It has to compete with older institutions doing the
same work, but it appears clear that it is gradually making
progress in all its departments. It insures societies and
individuals against fire, burglary, and plate glass risks ; it
undertakes employers' liability, workmen's compensation,
accident, and fideUty insurance, and in these directions its
business is very substantial. Life assurance is not so extensively
carried on as the directors would hke, owing to older concerns
having had the start and assured persons not being too eager
to transfer policies, but Co-operators who are now taking
advantage of the various schemes of life assurance that have
been popularised — the ordinary, specisd, and industrial systems
— are choosing the C.I.S. as their medium, and the business
is growing. The C.I.S. has made its greatest success in a new
form of assurance which no other company could undertake.
This is the collective life assurance scheme. A society, large
or small, decides at a general meeting of the members to adopt
* See " The Printing Department," page 374.
INSURANCE AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES
33S
the scheme. It is then registered as a participant for the year.
The last issued balance-sheet is taken as the basis of the
agreement and a general pohcy is issued covering every member,
the society pajdng to the insurance department a premium equal
to one penny for every £i of sales. The premiums are paid
quarterly, or as often as the balance-sheet is issued. If a member
of an assured society dies while the pohcy is in operation notice
is sent to his society, and a funeral benefit is paid equivalent
to four shUlings per £ of the member's annual purchases from
his society. The amount of purchases is averaged over three
years, so that the effect of unemployment and other factors
contributing to a temporary decrease of purchases is minimised.
Thus, if a member of an assured society, purchasing goods to
the extent of £40 per annum, die his next of kin is entitled to
receive £8. If the wife of a member die the husband would
receive half the benefit and would still remain assured. The
cost of working the scheme, in view of the fact that the ordinary
bookkeeping of the retail society absolves the C.I.S. from
issuing separate poUcies and registering premiums for the
individual members, is reduced to about 3 per cent, of the
premiums. Under the industrial system, by which the assured
person pays so much per week, an enormous amount of book-
keeping and clerical work is involved and an army of collectors
is engaged, and the cost of working the industrial system is
therefore much higher — amounting to about 43 per cent, in
many cases. In 1918 there were 710 societies assured, the
aggregate membership of these being 1,952,556. The premiums
paid to the department amounted to £283,383, and the claims
paid by the department totalled 35,414, amounting to £246,232.
The following data show the rate of progress made in the
various branches of the insurance business.
Collective Life Assurance Business.
No. of
Societies
Assured.
Premiums
Received.
No. of
Members of
Assured
Societies.
Claims Paid.
No.
Amount.
1915
1916
i«iV
1918
506
681
616
710
129,686
179,700
226,223
283,383
1,134,844
1,380,139
1,578,074
1,952,556
19,886
23.843
27,746
35,414
£
124,221
147,165
179,127
246,232
336
WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Life Assurance Business (Individuals).
Ordinary. i Special.
Industrial.
Year.
Claims Paid. 1 p.^^j^^.
Claims Paid.
Premiums
Received.
Claims Paid.
Received.
No.
Amount.
Received.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
1915
1916
1917
1918
38,155
45,662
56,412
87,277
107
102
274
327
£
8,978
16,587
22,904
28,502
£
17,353
20,604
23,873
27,702
599
661
795
1016
£
6,001
7,473
8,729
11,472
5,il8
6,560
8,212
20,944
285
297
369
1118
£
2,626
2,967
3,593
11,678
Fire and Accident and General Insurance Business.
Fire.
Accident and General.
Year.
Premiums
Received.
Claims Paid.
Premiums
Received.
*
Claims Paid.
No.
Amount.
No.
Amount.
1915
1916
1917
1918
64,173
65,945
73,636
81,605
1,816
1,800
2,025
2,119
£
15,282
15,022
26,494
38,422
£
20,395
25,561
29,737
34,536
1,442
1,845
1,696
1,721
£ '
6,977
10,245
12,798
12,289
Employers' Llability Insurance Business.
Year.
Premiums
Received.
Claims Paid.
Fatal.
Non-Fatal.
No.
Amount.
1916
£
32,864
34,111
36,642
50,842
22
21
22
24
2,375
2,319
2,159
1,917
2,397
2,340
2,181
1,941
£
16,381
16,085
17,429
18,273
1916
1917
1918
In 1918 the total premium income in all departments amounted to
£586,389.
The insurance department was located in the premises at
the corner of Paterson Street and Morrison Street when the
Wholesale took over the business. Later it was housed at the
corner of Dundas Street and Morrison Street. Now it occupies
another set of temporary premises in the building adjoining the
new grocery premises in Morrison Street, the Glasgow manager
being Mr James Darroch.
* Accident, Burglary, Fidelity, Plate Glass, Motor Vehicle, and Live Stock Insurances are
included in the Accident and QeneralAccount.
INSURANCE AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES 337
State Insurance.
The inauguration of the compulsory State insurance of all
employed persons opened out a new prospect of Co-operative
development. The State — as represented by Mr Lloyd George
— anticipated strenuous opposition to its scheme from the great
friendly societies of the country, and gave the customary " sop
to Cerberus " by deciding that all contributions must be paid
through " approved societies " if people wished to secure the
maximum State benefits, and at the same time decreeing that
existing friendly societies might become " approved " societies.
When the Insurance Bill was submitted to Parliament it had the
close consideration of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of
the Co-operative Union and the two Wholesale Societies, and
the committee passed a unanimous resolution declaring " That
the Committee are of opinion that the National Insurance BUI
win give to our movement a long-needed opportunity of adding
to its ruany spheres of usefulness that of insuring against sickness,
disablement, and unemployment those of its members not other-
wise pro'vdded for, and we strongly recommend that arrangements
be made to take advantage of its provisions when passed into law."
A good many Co-operators who were deeply interested in
friendly societies doubted the wisdom of taking any steps to
give effect to this resolution. Mr Thomas Tweddell, a director
(afterwards president) of the English Wholesale Society, became
an ardent propagandist, and on 27th January 1912 he read a
paper at a special conference held in the Oddfellows' Hall,
Edinburgh, on the invitation of the Scottish Section of the
Co-operative Union, in which he advocated that the Co-operative
movement should form an approved society under the Act,
and the Scottish Co-operative Friendly Society came into being
as already described.*
The Friendly Society has had a singularly successful
experience, thanks to the care and foresight of its officials and
committee. At the annual meeting held in 1918 it was officially
reported that from the society's inception eighteen other societies
had transferred their engagements to it. This was half the total
number of Scottish societies that had transferred their engage-
ments to other societies, and the fact that so large a proportion
* See page 214.
Y
338 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
had selected the Co-operative Friendly Society was eloquent
evidence of its strong financial position, although greater evidence
still is the fact that several of them selected this society on the
advice of the Commissioners. The Commissioners have, in fact,
warmly commended the services rendered to State insurance in
Scotland by the secretary, Mr William Thomson.
In 1913 the membership was 6,337 "i^n and 5,689 women,
a total of 12,026 ; whereas in the Wholesale's Jubilee year the
membership was reported as 7,938 men and 9,363 women, a
total of 17,301, although that did not represent the full number
at the end of the year. The expenditure on sickness benefit
recorded in the annual report at the 1918 meeting was ;^5,5o8 ;
on disablement benefit, ;^2,I35 ; on maternity benefit, £957 ;
and the married women's credits amounted to £110. The
invested surplus funds in 1918 were £36,552, of which £16,440
was in 5 per cent. War Loan Stock, and £20,112 invested with
the National Debt Commissioners.
THE PAISLEY ROAD "GUSSET."
The building which forms the " gusset " at Paisley Road and
Morrison Street is resolved into a triangle by Dundas Street,
and therefore comprises the first of the Wholesale's " south-
side" premises.* That original " Paisley Road warehouse " is
the eastern block, and was built for the society. The grocery
department uses part of this building, but established there are
the of&ce staff and architects of the building department, the
office of the coal department, and the dining rooms managed
by the S.C.W.S. catering department. The operations of the
building department are separately described, f
When the S.C.W.S. holds one of its periodical miUinery shows
or entertains a party of delegates visiting one of the Society's
centres, the guests of the Society are always impressed with
the efficiency of the Wholesale catering department, of which
Mr George Boyle is the chief. These occasions only come
occasionally, however, whereas the catering department is
never idle. The department is busiest at Glasgow and
ShieldhaU, where there are enormous numbers of employees
who cannot get home for dinner, and who are provided for in
* See pages 80-1. t See page 342.
THE PAISLEY ROAD "GUSSET" 339
the Society's dining rooms. The department is not a trading
department in the ordinary sense, for its primary function is
to afford these employees facilities for meals. It does not
undertake catering on a wholesale scale except in the Wholesale's
own premises or at functions arranged by the Society itself.
While the Calderwood Estate was available for picnic parties
and excursionists, and the grounds were crowded on Saturday
afternoons with these organised visitors, it was the rule that
all the catering must be done by the S.C.W.S. department.
That regulation was not made for the purpose of estabhshing
any trade monopoly, but for the purpose of preserving order
at Calderwood and avoiding the confusion that would be bound
to arise if there were a dozen excursions on the one day (no
unusual thing), each catered for by its own purveyors, with cooks
and waiters or waitresses all getting into the way of each other.
During a normal summer thousands of meals would be provided
at Calderwood by the department. The delegates attending the
Wholesale meetings — as many as 1,200 at times — all require
food after having travelled from all parts of Scotland, and to
feed this number tmce during the day is a fairly big job.
Delegates attending conferences held on Wholesale premises
are also seen to. During the war thousands of wounded
soldiers were entertained to dinners and teas in the Wholesale
establishments and on steamers, and for four and a half years
the large colony of Belgian refugees at Calderwood were
attended to by the department. The Wholesale employees
who take advantage of the catering arrangements have aU. the
benefits of Co-operative trading, for the department does not
aim at profit-making ; it simply exists to serve, and it
obviously serves well.
The coal department plays an important part in Co-operative
economy. To organise coal supplies for the factories and other
buUdings utihsed by the S.C.W.S. in its big trading and
industrial operations is a serious undertaking by itself ; but
to act as the buyer for the retail Co-operative societies requires
constant vigilance on the part of the staff of the department
which is presided over by Mr Thomas Burton, who is a familiar
figure on 'Change. The trade was always subject to troubles
which many other trades were spared. This fact imposes upon
the departmental chief and his staff considerable anxiety[;
340 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and the department has fulfilled its purpose with considerable
success, despite the suddenness with which disorganisation
sometimes affected the mining industry. The S.C.W.S. owns
about 120 trucks, and by 1914 it had organised a trade
extending to 338,000 tons per year. Of that, about 36,860 tons
were used for the Wholesale Society's own mUls and factories.
In the succeeding years labour scarcity, the disorganisation of
traffic facilities, and the Government's rationing system
interfered with the trade of the department very considerably.
The Government's arrangements were not fair to the
Co-operative societies, because the terms of supply fixed the
ration in proportion to the supplies deUvered at an earUer
period, and not in proportion to the number of registered
customers. In spite of these serious obstacles, the coal
department sold over 298,272 tons during 1918. On various
occasions the department has been consulted by the authorities,
who required expert guidance in problems connected with coal
supply and distribution, and in a number of ways the
department has effected a considerable saving for the whole
movement.
OTHER GLASGOW CENTRES.
Morrison Street is not the only Co-operative centre in Glasgow.
Paterson Street, in fact, almost rivals Morrison Street for the
variety of Co-operative associations. Stand at the corner of
Morrison Street and look north. It is a short view ; but in the
Uttle there' is to see of Paterson Street in that direction there is
the green fruit department which adjoins the stationery warehouse
on the one side and the egg department on the other. Looking
southwards, the view at close quarters is of the drapery warehouse,
which comprises some productive departments. Further south,
however, tall buildings rise almost at the extreme end of the
street. They house a variety of S.C.W.S. departments. In those
premises the building* department, the stables, the mechanics'
shop, and general plant are located. Important factories,
however, also find their home in Paterson Street. Most of these
are dealt with in separate descriptive notes ; but the importance
of this group may be estimated when it is pointed out that it
* See pages 342.
OTHER GLASGOW CENTRES 341
comprises the shirt factory, the underclothing factory, the
bespoke clothing, and juvenile clothing departments, the blouse
factory, the waste department, and the embroidery department.
The waste factory is already described,* and the shirt and
clothing factories come under their own categories.
The embroidery department is worthy of special notice,
however. This was established in 1913, when it was housed at
the other end of Paterson Street, at the comer of Maxwell Place,
close to the fruit department. The latest inventions in machines
are used for making ornamental hems, hem-stitched borders,
and drawn-thread ornamentation, and sewing on cord-edging ;
besides plain-stitching machines, and machines used for flowered
work, which they produce as artistically as the best hand workers.
A specially interesting machine is one consisting of six working
bands, by which the same ornamental design may be produced
on six articles at the one time. This combination is used chiefly
for the stitching of ornamental monograms on handkerchiefs
and other articles requiring to be so embroidered. The work
turned out is highly ornamental, and this is only one of the many
ventures which has added to the importance of the drapery
department.
Dundas Street runs parallel to Paterson Street, and the
buUdings in one adjoin the buildings in the other. At the south
end of Dundas Street the chief building is the boot warehouse ;f
but in Dundas Lane North is located the heating plant, and in
Dundas Lane South there is a sub-electric station.
The drapery warehouse, described separately,! houses several
important productive departments. One of these is the special
mantle factory ; and another is the millinery department.
The trade of these departments is merged, of course, in that of
the drapery department ; j'et these departments alone con-
tribute to the success of the drapery department very considerably.
The latest modes in mantles are produced, and the millinery is
of the very highest quality, as will be testified by anyone who
has had the pleasure of attending one of the seasonal shows held
under the auspices of these departments. It will, no doubt,
surprise many to learn that no fewer than 600 artists are engaged
in producing the designs followed by the millinery department,
*See page 322. f S^e Boot and Shoe Production, page 370.
J See page 320.
342 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
and, if that does not furnish variety enough, the Co-operators
of Scotland are more fastidious than they are beUeved to be.
In Maxweltown Place, overlooking the Kingston Dock, is the satin
hat factory, which serves a very useful purpose, and is, naturally,
an auxiliary to the drapery department. The factory was
established in February 1903, under the management of Mr
Mungo, but Mr Cook is now in charge. At one time the industry
was thriving and ten persons were employed, but the " lum
hat " has lost its old popularity, and seven men and women
are now employed, partly at men's and partly at ladies' hats.
Another busy centre — for it is near eriough to Morrison Street
to be regarded as belonging to the centre — is the building at the
comer of Park Street and Smith Street, Kinning Park. Here
are located the ham-curing and sausage factories,* the cartwright,
building, and saddlery departments,! the bedding department,
scale repair factory, and waterproof and oilskin factories.!
The scale making and repairing factory referred to was
established 1908, owing to a desire on the part of the societies
to keep their weighing apparatus correctly adjusted. Contracts
are entered into under which the shops of societies are visited
and the weighing machines tested and adjusted. The manu-
facture of scales and weighing machines was undertaken too, and
the department proved its usefulness in many ways. In June
1918 a branch scale repair shop was opened in Edinburgh, and
during the jubilee year the work undertaken represented a
turnover of nearly £3,000. This, of course, does not include
the value of weighing apparatus sold to societies.
THE BUILDING AND ALLIED DEPARTMENTS.
There was a time when the S.C.W.S. believed it would be better
to employ a joiner regularly than to call one in from an outside
workshop every time a Uttle job had to be done about the
premises. The work soon got to be too much for one, and
another was taken on ; and, eventually, several workmen were
kept regularly in employment attending to repairs and Uttle
alterations that were wanted here and there. The whole of
the gusset buildings at Paisley Road and Morrison Street had
been acquired ; the Wholesale had inaugurated its shirt and
* See page 359. f See page 417. { See page 381.
BUILDING AND ALLIED DEPARTMENTS 343
clothing factories, its boot and cabinet factories, and its
upholstery department by 1885 ; and all this involved a good
deal of work for tradesmen of all kinds, for departments were
extending and alterations had to be made frequently.
In view of this a building department was inaugurated in
1885. The department undertook the whole of the joinery
work for the Dundas Street building in which the boot factory
and the furniture warehouse were situated in 1887. It was
the department's first job of any importance. What it has
done since then is evidenced by the magnificent architectural
monuments provided by the central premises, the drapery
warehouse, the Chancelot mills, the new grocery warehouse in
Morrison Street now nearing completion, the stationery ware-
house, and the whole of the Shieldhall establishment, to mention
only the more important and more ornamental of their
" productions " ; but, in short, the department has erected all
the Wholesale's buildings that have arisen since 1887. Besides
that, extensive alterations and additions have been made to
buildings from time to time. Apart from what the department
has done for the Wholesale Society itself, it has carried through
very considerable building contracts for other Co-operative
societies. The Convalescent Home at Seamill, West Kilbride,
and the big extension to Abbotsview Home are well-known
examples of the department's skill ; but warehouses, shops
and offices, shops with houses above, bakeries, and stables
have been built for Co-operative societies in various parts of
the country, while the structural alterations executed have
been numerous.
The department does not only build what others design.
It has its own staff of architects and its own costing staff, who
are constantly designing buildings required by the Wholesale
or society members, and estimating for such work. Most of the
work done for the WTiolesale in recent years, even the most
ornate work, has been designed by the Society's own staff, and
carried out under the supervision of the late Mr James Davidson
— the head of the department — or his successor Mr WiUiam
Mercer, who was for a long time his assistant and deputy.
" Who builds stronger than the mason, the shipwright, or the
carpenter ? " According to Shakespeare it is the grave-maker,
" for the houses he builds last till Domesday." The buildings
344 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
contrived and erected by the S.C.W.S. building department are
not guaranteed to last so long as that ; but, like most Co-operative
productions, they are solid goods, guaranteed to meet tear
and wear as long as stone and lime will resist the ravages
of time.
The resources of the Wholesale are not fully exhausted when
it buUds and designs. It has its own sawmill ; its cabinet
factory provides fixtures which it can provide for the building
department without violating the canons of trade unionism ;
its engineering department makes and erects a good deal of the
fittings, and there was a time — fifteen years ago — when slates
might be obtained from a Co-operative quarry ; but that quarry
is no longer a Co-operative possession. The Society, however,
puts its own painters and decorators on to contracts for other
societies as well as to work in Wholesale premises ; and it has
a paint factory of its own in which paints and distempers are
produced. The engineering, electrical, and cabinet works are
referred to elsewhere ;* but the paint factory deserves special
mention here.
The painting department found distemper a highly useful
substitute for oil paint and wallpaper in many places, and very
considerable quantities of this material were used which, of
course, the Wholesale had to buy. The " intelligence depart-
ment " looked into the whole business, discovered the secret of
manufacture, improved upon original samples, and Paterson's
distemper is now not only used in the painting department, but
listed for sale to the societies for sale by them, in turn, to
members. The name is a tribute to Mr Paterson, who has been
at the instigation of the business. The outlay involved was
considerably below what the Wholesale had to pay, even for the
large quantities used in the department, for the other brands.
The venture succeeded ; and when it was found that, in three
years— 1910-1913— no less than 80 tons of this material had been
produced, the • department turned its attention to oil paint.
It had been accustomed to mixing its own paints for the execution
of its own contracts ; but when the department moved into its
new quarters in Houston Place arrangements were made for the
production of paint in the small tins for domestic use, which
command a ready sale among the handy housewives, or those
* See pages 387, 403.
BUILDING AND ALLIED DEPARTMENTS 345
who have handy and willing husbands, who do little odd jobs
for their own pleasure and for the beautifying of the home.
The raw materials are brought to Houston Place premises,
where apparatus has been provided for chemical tests to be
applied to the ingredients in order to ensure permanency and
other qualities essential in good paint. When the tests have
been completed, the mixing processes are carried out in such
a manner as to obviate the danger from which other paint
factories are not altogether free. The proper proportioning of
the ingredients is one of the secrets of the excellent quality of
the Wholesale brand of paint, and this part of the business having
been completed, the composition is placed in the patent mixer,
so as to ensure that the paint is reduced to the proper uniform
consistency without which paint cannot be successfully appUed.
From the mixer the paint is run by a patent drain into tins of
the requisite size, and the filling of the tins is therefore carried
out with perfect cleanliness. The blending of the colours is a
part of the process calling for special skUl and care, and it may
be noted that the Wholesale markets its liquid paint in no fewer
than thirty-two different shades. The paint is put up in tins of
I lb., 2 lb., 4 lb., and 7 lb., and is sold to societies to be retailed in
their ironmongery, hardware, or delf shops, or furnishing
departments. Before the department was in operation for one
month, no fewer than 6,720 i-Ib. tins were sold, to say nothing
of a considerable trade in larger sizes. Liquid paints succeeded,
and the production of varnish paints was undertaken. The same
processes have to be gone through, but the varnish paint has a
gloss that the liquid paint has not, because of the varnishing
properties contained in the former. One venture called foranother.
The demand for the new paint exceeded the expectations of the
department altogether. The demand for tins added considerably
to the output of the tinware department. The tins are of the
lever-lid variety, and they are specially decorated ; so that the
enterprise of the painting department not only established a
new productive department for the Wholesale, but gave a fillip
to several other departments.
The extent of the work done by the building department
jnay be judged by the fact that in 1914 it amounted in value to
;^7i,ooo. Since then, for the greater part of the intervening
period, embargoes on steel, restrictions on building, and other
346 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
similar effects of the war have lessened the activities of the
department ; but, even in spite of these obstacles, the work
done in 1918 represented a total value of £64,000. Part of this
sum, in both cases, is charged to the Wholesale departments
for which the work was done, and part charged to the retail
societies for which the contracts were carried out. The average
number of persons employed during 1914 was 218 (lower than
the average for some years) ; but the restrictions referred to
and the demand for men for the Army and Navy, reduced the
average to 140 in 1918. The building department undertakes
the winding of all the clocks that are fixtures in the Society's
property, and the cartwright department and the farriers'
department * come under the supervision of Mr Mercer also.
FLOUR AND OATMEAL MILLING.
The Wholesale Society is credited with having the most
handsome flour mill in the world, and a glimpse at Chancelot
MiU, Edinburgh, furnishes prima facie evidence in support of
the claim. The steps which led to the building of the Chancelot
MiU and the acquisition of the Junction Mill (Leith) and Regent
Mill (Glasgow) are recorded elsewhere,f and references are also
made to the opening of these establishments.
Chancelot Mill, opened in 1894, represented then the
Wholesale's greatest venture. It is built upon land feued in
Bonnington Road — the feu extending to a Uttle over three
acres. Caledonian and North British railway lines skirt the
mill, and sidings run into the grounds, so that the mill is
admirably situated. The whole of the buildings are constructed
of stone and the fagade to Dalmeny Road is adorned with stone
pilasters, base belt courses, and cornices. A clock tower, which
rises to a height of 185 feet, constitutes the chief architectural
feature of the building, and contains a water tank, thus com-
bining the useful with the ornamental. The mason work of each
face of the tower is terminated in a carved stone wheatsheaf.
The sloping roof of the tower terminates in a fiat platform
surrounded by iron cresting containing the monogram of the
Society, the central letters of which are about fifteen feet in
height. The buildings on this front comprise the mill, the
* See page 418. f See page 148,
FLOUR AND OATMEAL MILLING 347
engine-house, the wheat-cleaning department, and the silos.
Behind this building is the warehouse. The mill is 103 feet long
by 34 feet wide, and extends to five storeys in height. The
"windows are so constructed that it is almost impossible for dust
to lie, and the interior walls are double coated with cement,
■which gives a hard and white surface. The warehouse is 189
feet long and has six floors, and it can store thousands of tons
of flour. The silo house, for the storage of grain, is 137 feet
long and has a height of 70 feet. The engine-room has a length
of 61 feet and is quite ornate in character. There are a boiler-
house, mechanics' workshops, sack room, dining rooms, and
stables ; and there is also a pond containing a million gallons
of water, chiefly for condensing and boiler feeding, which can
also be used in the event of fire.
The processes through which the grain passes are most
interesting, and all the parts of Chancelot MiU work into each
other admirably, for the mill was planned by Mr Henry Simon
of Manchester, one of the best milling engineers of his day.
The wheat is brought to the mill by rail or road, and is conveyed
by means of travelling bands to the silo, where it is weighed
and checked. The grain is cleaned by means of separators,
which remove straw, stones, or any other material foreign to
the pure grain required for milling. Lighter impurities, such as
dust, are removed by fans ; automatic appliances remove
foreign seeds, and a brush machine polishes the grain. This is
but a brief indication of what happens in the cleansing of the
grain, for about thirty-eight machines are brought into operation
before the cleansing is thoroughly completed.
When the cleansing processes are completed the grain has
to be brought to the proper condition for milling, and the care
with which that is done at the S.C. W.S. mills is one of the reasons
why orders for Wholesale flour have poured in to such an extent
that the mills are kept working to their highest capacity. Some
grain has to be dried and some has to be damped to secure
uniformity ; but as the supplies of grain do not aU come from
the same region the properties of various consignments of wheat
have to be ascertained and the grain blended by the miller, just
as flour is subsequently blended by the baker. The blending
of the wheat is done by machinery, and when that is completed
the grain passes to the milling machines. These are of the
348 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
roller type, which is specially adapted for the huge quantities
that pass through the S.C.W.S. mills. The first roUers are
grooved, the grooves on the succeeding rollers becoming finer,
tiU in the end the rollers are absolutely smooth. The effect of
the first roller is to crush the grain slightly, so as to free the
germ and " middlings," out of which the finer flour is produced.
In the various rollers parts of the grain, the outer shells, etc.,
are discarded. These materials have a saleable value as
"offal." On the upper floors of the mill there are machines
known as purifiers and scalpers, which separate and grade the
productions of the roUers, and there is an ingenious system of
elevators for conveying the ground material from one machine
to that for which it is next destined. Every protection is
provided to safeguard against fire and against explosion from
dust in the miU and in the warehouse ; nevertheless, an outbreak
of fire occurred on 7th February 1916. The outbreak was
believed to have been due to some of the dry dust having been
caught by an electric spark from one of the machines. The
automatic alarms brought four engines from the Edinburgh
Fire Brigade, and when they arrived on the scene dense clouds
of smoke created the impression that the whole building was
doomed. The mill, however, is equipped with sprinklers, from
which water is released by the action of the fire itself, and these
were of valuable aid in the restriction of the damage. Besides,
the mill has its own trained fire brigade always at call, and the
members of this brigade did excellent service in stemming the
ravages of the flames. Two floors in the centre of the building
were involved in the blaze, and there the fire was confined ;
and so well had the outbreak been dealt with by the mill
brigade that the municipal brigade were not more than an
hour at work before the fire had been extinguished. Some of
the shafts and elevators were destroyed, the damage from water
was considerable, but about £1,000 covered it all.
Junction Mill, Leith,* was purchased in 1897 to undertake
the milling of oatmeal in order to cope with the national demand
for the food which builds up Scottish brawn and muscle. In
less than ten years the milling plant had to be improved and
extended, and immediately before the war the mill was again
remodelled and equipped for a greater output. The miU is not
* See page 161.
FLOUR AND OATMEAL MILLING 349
used exclusively for oatmeal as was originally intended, for part
of the plant is used for the production of flour and other finer
mill products, such as semolina and kindred articles. Like the
other mills, it is being run to its full capacity. The scarcity of
the wheat supply is reflected in an interesting fashion by the
fact that while the S.C.W.S. provided 28,427 sacks of oatmeal
from Junction Mill in 1914, the output of oatmeal alone from
the miU went up to 46,444 sacks in 1918, showing that many
had gone back to oatmeal and porridge as a partial substitute
for flour and bread. The mill is situated in Bowling Green
Street, but if it lacks the ornate appearance of other Wholesale
buildings it is chiefly because it was bought for and not erected
for the S.C.W.S.
The historical associations of the Regent Flour Mill, Glasgow,
have been already mentioned,* and they are a source of some
little pride to the owners of the mill, which occupies such a
commanding position on the banks of the Kelvin.
The mUl consists of two buildings. The warehouse, which
is the first of the buildings, is 240 feet long and 40 feet wide ;
and the miU, 103 feet long by 38 feet wide. The floors and walls
of the warehouse are so constructed as to make it almost
impossible for fire to pass from one floor to the other. Between
the warehouse and the mill there is a siding from the Caledonian
railway which passes the mill, so that Regent Mill shares the
same advantages as the other mills in respect of convenience
for receipt and dispatch of goods. There are at Regent Mill
the usual auxiliary departments — offices, consulting rooms,
engine-rooms, and mechanics' departments, with the customary
excellent provision for the convenience of the employees — ^but
in plant and equipment there is nothing to be desired. The
mUl was practically rebuilt in 1886 and the plant was then
modernised, so that it was regarded as being in excellent
condition when the Wholesale took it over. Nevertheless, there
have been several important additions made since then, and the
plant and machinery have been so improved and extended that
Regent MiU is probably the most up-to-date in the country.
The last extension was completed in 1914 and added 1,300 sacks
per week to the productive capacity of the miU.
The processes are similar to those carried out at Chancelot
* See pages 179, et seq.
350 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
Mill, and there is no need to repeat a description of them. One
special department of the establishment, however, has to be
mentioned. Flour, apparently, does not appeal to all bakers
ahke. Some bakers who have been accustomed to handling
certain brands of flour do not easily accustom themselves to
other brands. Hence it happened that when a society began
to buy Wholesale flour the bakers, or the foreman baker, often
complained of being unable to turn out a satisfactory loaf>
Other bakers, on the other hand, found the flour from the
S.C.W.S. mills as easy to handle as any other flour, and found
it productive of excellent results. Complaints, however extra-
ordinary, had to be answered with technical experience. The
bread-baking competition, estabUshed in 1909, showed that
first-class bread, meriting the highest tributes from experts in
the bakery trade, could be produced from the Wholesale flour )
but if a society's expert said he could not get on with it, it very
usually meant that flour was bought elsewhere, and the directors
saw no reason why the shareholding societies should not be able
to procure satisfactory results from flour from their own mills.
To provide the best expert advice from a technical point of
view, there was established a little model bakery at Regent
Mill. The directors employed the winner of the challenge shield
for the best plain loaf at the 1909 competition, Mr Sproul of
Musselburgh, and placed him in charge. Bakers who cannot
produce satisfactory bread for their societies may have their
samples examined and tested and are advised as to wherein the
defect lies, and tests are made of fresh millings of Wholesale
flour by producing loaves of the best quality to demonstrate
what can be done.
The Crichie Meal Mill, Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, was purchased
in 1915, at a cost of ;f3,ooo. It had then been in use for only
about a year. It differs materially from the other Wholesale
mills, particularly as to plant. The mill is built solidly of
granite ; there is a convenient water supply, which is able to
keep the mill going during a considerable part of the year, and
there is also an oil engine to keep the machinery going. The
miU is small compared with the other mills, but it affords some
relief to the Junction Mill, it taps a good oats-growing district,
and it produces a good quality of Scotch oatmeal. During the
period that the mill has been in the possession of the Wholesale
FLOUR AND OATMEAL MILLING 351
war conditions prevailed, nevertheless during 1918 Crichie Mill
produced 10,866 sacks. One of the chief merits of the Crichie
MiU is that it mills Aberdeenshire oats on the spot, and
authorities seem to agree that there is a flavour about
Aberdeenshire oats that is hard to beat.
Almost following the opening of Crichie Mill the Wholesale
set up a depot in Aberdeen for the buying of oats produced in
the surrounding country. This has been a successful auxiliary
to the mill, but it has helped the Wholesale also because it
established successful trading relations with the farmers generally
to whom the Wholesale sells groceries and from whom it buys
eggs and other farm produce — relations that the movement is
eager to extend all over the country, especially among the
smallholders. The transfer value of these purchases for rgiS
amounted to no less than ^138,310, apart from the transfer
value of the meal ground at Crichie Mill, which was £55,093.
The Wholesale, during the last year or two, handled scarcely
any meal but that of its own milling.
Girtrig MiU, Drybridge, Ayrshire, was purchased in 1918.
It is also a meal mill, smaller than Crichie Mill, but it is intended
to act as a useful accessory to the Kilmarnock depot.* During
the few months in 1918 that the mill belonged to the Wholesale
it ground about 190 tons of oats, beans, etc. The miU is driven
by water power.
The whole miUing trade suffered serious troubles during the
war, especially during the period of Control, which deprived the
Wholesale of the advantage of its own network of organisation
for wheat collecting in Canada. But despite the great capacity
of the mills, they have to be kept running constantly almost
day and night to keep pace with the demands of societies.
Millions upon milhons of loaves are required each year for
Co-operative households — the bakery of St Cuthbert's Associa-
tion, in Edinburgh, produces three and three-quarter million
loaves in the half-year for the members of one society alone —
and all the other uses to which flour is put, in bakeries, in the
homes of Co-operators, and in Co-operative restaurants, have
only to be thought of to make one realise what the demand is
like. The milling department delivered 710,154 sacks of flour
to societies during 1918 (13,656 per week), as against 634,252
*See page 317.
352 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
■(12,197 per week) delivered in 1914, a difference which was very
largely accounted for by the excellent terms upon which the
Wholesale was able to supply societies. There is one fact,
however, that is noteworthy. The Society finds a ready sale
for the offals thrown off the grain in the miUing process— and
nothing is allowed to go to waste — but owing to the submarine
menace and the shortage in supplies of wheat on that account,
the Government compelled millers everywhere to grind part of
this offal into flour, and the amount of offal sold by the S.C.W.S.
in 1918 was less than half the quantity sold in 1914 owing to
this regulation. In 1918 the value of the flour and offal sold
was ;£i,543,256. The total output of flour from the three mills
in 1918 was 615,894 sacks.
CREAMERIES, MARGARINE FACTORY, AND MILK
CENTRES.
Many of the most active of Scottish Co-operators have never
seen the Wholesale's estabUshment at Enniskillen ; but it would
surprise and delight them to visit the place and see for themselves
the extent of the operations carried on there — operations which
represent a twentieth of the total annual turnover of the
Wholesale ; or, for the last half-year for which figures are
available, £513,000.
The Enniskillen branch was established in 1885,* as a col-
lecting centre for Irish produce. Enniskillen was chosen because
of the supplies obtainable within a convenient radius and because
it is in direct railway communication with Belfast and London-
derry, which, in turn, have direct steamboat connection with
Glasgow. As a collecting centre it has been a success from the
start, and copious supplies of eggs, pigs, poultry, fruit, ham, and
bacon are dispatched to the S.C.W.S. warehouses f or to the
retail societies on the instructions of the warehouses.
Here we are chiefly concerned with the creamery, in which
business was commenced in July 1898, in order to improve the
quality and maintain regular supplies of Irish butter. There
was always a demand for Irish butter ; and the Irish trade was
being seriously rivalled by the Danish producers. Most people
* See page 125.
■f For these activities at Enniskillen, see pages 311, 361.
SPINNING AND WEAVING
(1) Wool Bings at Ettrick Mills. (2) Wool Carding Room, Ettrick.
SPINNING AND WEAVING
^Ay^ti'
XT^
TAYBANK WORKS
0) Jute Preparing Department. (2) Jute Spinninj Department.
CREAMERIES, MARGARINE, AND MILK 33S
can remember the familiar Irish " lump," wrapped in muslin.
It was good, solid stuff ; but it was not always produced under
the best conditions, or in the most salubrious premises, and the
little farms were not equipped with the best means of making
the best of the Irish product. The Wholesale Society, however,
set up its creamery. It was not without some httle opposition
in Ireland. The idea was to get the farmers to sell their mUk
to the creamery, the Wholesale undertaking the manufacture
of the butter. Even enthusiasts connected with the Irish
Agricultural Organisation Society did not take kindly to the
scheme. They welcomed a market for the produce the Irish
farmer had to sell ; they did their best to improve methods, to
improve the production of the farms, and to improve transport
so far as they could ; but while working towards that, end they
beheved that the actual making of the butter was work the
Irish farmers should be allowed to undertake either by them-
selves or in a creamery co-operatively owned by the farmers.
In short, their idea was that the making of Irish butter was an
Irish industry and should be carried on by Irishmen. The
English Wholesale Society was faced with a similar view when
it began its creameries ; but it undertook that, while it would
establish its own creameries and organise the necessary supplies
of milk from the farmers, it would hand the creameries over to the
farmers of the districts affected as soon as they organised them-
selves into Co-operative creamery societies to take them over.
As a result of that, the C.W.S. has given up most of its creameries
to such societies. The S.C.W.S., however, goes on at Ennis-
killen, where it has established a reputation which makes the
people of the district take a kindly view of the Scots people
who own the EnniskUlen creamery. For that happy state of
affairs a good deal of the credit is due to the tact and rectitude
of the manager of the EnniskiUen estabUshment, Mr WiUiam
Whyte, who had given thirty-three years of service in Ennis-
Idllen when the Society's jubilee was reached.
In order that people may know exactly from what kind of
place their Irish butter comes, it may be mentioned that
EnniskiUen is a lovely little town situated on an island, where
a clear river meets one of the loveUest of Ireland's inland loughs
— a town free of smoke, with clean-fronted bidldings, with a
green hill at either end of its main street.
354 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The creamery is one of the most interesting places
imaginable. The Wholesale's premises, except the piggery
which stands on a hUlside near, overlook Lough Erne, and
comprising the creamery, the ham and bacon curing department,
the egg store, and the electric-power station, stand at the extreme
end of the buildings, bounded upon one side by the main road
to the western counties of SUgo and Donegal ; and a little road
runs off the highway at the entrance to the creamery, and skirts
the back of the buUdings — a little road which has two or three
of the most charming whitewashed cottages, with blazing
ramblers growing up the walls. Thither hundreds of farmers
send their mUk, and a delightful picture presents itself in the
mornings when the farmers' carts form their queue, not
struggling for food, but giving it over for the benefit of those
whom the fates chain to towns. The scene is as varied as it is
gratifying, for one cart, drawn by a stout horse, will have several
large milk cans ; another, drawn by a donkey, wiU have one ;
here the driver is a big lump of a man with a whisker as white
as the milk he brings ; there it is a woman who " handles the
ribbons." The milk is emptied into a huge vessel, all that the
farmer brings. A measure on the inside of the vessel shows how
much the sender has given ; the quantity is noted by a busy
clerk against the farmer's name ; a sample of the milk is taken
and placed in a glass bottle bearing the farmer's number, so that
when the dehvery of milk has ceased for the day the sample
may be tested for its quality, which regulates the price. In
1918, 2I milUon gallons of milk were so handled. The cream,
after being cooled, is run into the " churn," a large, horizontal
cyUnder fitted inside with paddles which revolve and beat the
cream into butter, out of which the remaining traces of mUk
are removed, and the butter, lifted out by wooden spades, is
pressed into boxes or barrels carefully Uned with butter paper.
The mUk is placed in the can at the farm, and the first hand to
come into contact with it or the butter is perhaps the hand
which picks up the hot toast after the butter has been put on
the breakfast-table of the co-operator " somewhere in Scotland."
Well over 400 tons of butter, produced under such conditions,
is sent out from Enniskillen. Eight auxiUaries feed Enniskillen,
besides the farmers from the neighbourhood. The auxiliaries
are Gola, BaJnaleek, Florence Court, and " S " Bridge, all of
CREAMERIES, MARGARINE, AND MILK 355
which have been going since 1898 ; Gardner's Cross, 1899 ;
Blacklion, 1901 ; Glenfame, 1902 ; and Moneah, 1908. The
butter transferred from Enniskillen since the beginning amounted
in value to over a mUUon and a half sterling. At the auxiUaries
the milk is separated and the cream dispatched to Enniskillen
to save the multipUcation of butter plants. The Enniskillen
establishment gives emplo5anent to over 100 persons, whose
wages bUl ran into £10,000 per year in the fiftieth year. That
is of some service to the people in the neighbourhood ; but it
is not the only advantage. The farmer no longer brings his box
of butter to the market to sell for cash, part of which might be
spent. He sends his milk ; his accounts are paid fortnightly ;
he and his womenfolk are saved the trouble of buttermaking ;
the money comes regularly ; the wife and her husband can
consult together as to what can be done with it ; and the general
effect is towards improvement in domestic conditions.
The most exacting test of the quality of Irish butter is the
system of surprise butter competitions and inspection under
Government control. The farmers and owners of creameries
who agree to enter for these competitions are pounced upon at
any time without notice, and samples of their butter are taken
to be tested. The awards are made on the result of the analyses
and other tests applied. In 1910 there were seven such com-
petitions, and the S.C.W.S. obtained three first prizes and two
seconds ; in 1912 there were seven, and the S.C.W.S. took five
firsts ; and, in all, between 1903 and 1914, the Enniskillen
creamery was awarded seventeen first and eleven second
prizes in the surprise competitions. It is a record of which
neither the S.C.W.S. nor the Enniskillen manager need be
ashamed.
What is being done so successfully at Enniskillen is also
being done on a smaller scale at Bladnoch and Whithorn in
Wigtownshire, and the user of " fresh " butter who purchases
that commodity at the " store " wiU find that many of the
prints used have the name Bladnoch as a guarantee that it is
a first-class Co-operative production. The situation of the
Bladnoch creamery, estabhshed in 1899, is scarcely less charming
than that of Enniskillen, and it is something to know that the
Wholesale directors have made it their business to choose such
delightful sites for estabUshments engaged in the production of
356 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
foods that are very susceptible to impurities in the atmosphere.
Bladnoch is on the banks of the Bladnoch, near Wigtown, where
it enjoys the fragrance of the sea breezes that are wafted in from
the arm of the Solway firth that is named Wigtown Bay.
Under the control of the same manager is the Whithorn
creamery, established subsequently. This is about fifteen mUes
distant in the same county, nearer the extremity of the peninsula,
where it feels the effect of the sea air from east, west, and south.
There is no dust-laden atmosphere to contaminate the products.
The estabhshments, both at Bladnoch and Whithorn, are
equipped with the latest plant and machinery, and there is a
special electrical installation in both places. The processes carried
on are similar to those at EnniskUlen. A normal year's output of
butter from the two establishments may be reckoned at 270 tons.
The chief importance of Bladnoch now is its margarine
industry. Before the war margarine was not popular even in
the working-class home, and while people who were known to
be well-to-do had no hesitation about using margarine for
cooking and baking, many working people who used margarine
did not seem to want people to know about it. That was one
of the chief reasons why co-operators who bought margarine
very frequently bought it at some of the multiple shops that
speciahsed in that commodity. Adversity makes strange bed-
fellows, however. The submarine cut off Danish suppUes, and
the price of butter rose to a serious extent, with the result that
a phenomenal demand for margarine was created. The S.C.W.S.
factory produced about 20 tons of margarine per week before
the war, but now it produces 200 tons per week, and extensive
additions to the factory, which are in process, would have been
completed before now if it had not been for difficulties surrounding
the suppty of labour and building material in the acute stages of
the war.
Milk is an essential item in the production of the margarine.
This reaches the creamery by means of the S.C.W.S. collecting
motors, which cover a wide area, or it is conveyed by the fanners
nearer the factory. At the receiving platforms at the works the
milk is run into a vat, where it is tested and weighed, and it is
then discharged along chutes into the collecting vats. Pasteurisa-
tion follows and the milk is subsequently separated. The skim
milk is then passed over refrigerators and the cooled milk is
CREAMERIES, MARGARINE, AND MILK 357
pumped into the souring vat, where it remains till " ripe."
Upon the accurate conduct of this part of the process the value
of the margarine depends, for the taste is regulated by the
degree of sourness the milk attains. The oils that go to the
production of the margarinp have meanwhile been in preparation.
These are chiefly cocoanut, palm kernel, or cotton-seed oils,
which are largely bought in the open market. During the war
the Wholesale was handicapped very seriously through not
having its choice of oils. From its West African possessions,*
now, it expects to be able to derive substantial supplies when
the world settles down, but the Society will take the best from
anywhere. The sister federation in England owns an oil mill
at Liverpool, where palm kernels are crushed, and as the over-
seas possessions of the two Societies are in process of being
scheduled as the joint property of both, as in the tea partner-
ship, f they will be able to be of service to one another in the
supply of materials. The oils, when they are required for use
at Bladnoch, are tipped into melting tanks. The soUd oUs are
first of all shredded in a machine invented by one of the
employees at Bladnoch, whose ingenuity was suitably rewarded
by the directors. The oils, when ready for use, are mixed prior
to their mixing with the mUk. The hquid is passed through a
churn ; the residting emulsion passes through chilled water,
where it is crystallised into margarine and precipitated into
tanks. The produce is skimmed into trucks, rolled, kneaded,
and blended, and then packed when ready. Even the packing
boxes are made at Bladnoch.
Thousands of gallons of milk arrive at the creameries each week.
Some of this is used for cheese-making — during a normal year
it amounted to about a million gallons — ^but, in the winter time
especially, considerable quantities have been sent to Glasgow.
An important by-product of the cheese-making is whey. For
this the Wholesale would have no particular use, so at Bladnoch
it is pumped through pipes to the piggeries, three-quarters of a
mile away. There is a piggery at Whithorn also, the inhabitants
of which are also large consumers of this and other material
for which the Wholesale has no other convenient use. The pigs,
when brought to the " pink of perfection,'' are transferred to
the ham and bacon curing factories of the Wholesale. |
* See page 432. t See page 232. t See page 359.
358 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
These two creameries and the margarine factory serve a
very useful purpose. We heard a reverend gentleman in Sauchie
describe how he used to dehght in seeing the big Wholesale
motors coming along the road to his father's farm in the
Bladnoch area, and he told how splendidly the Wholesale
helped the farmers in the district by providing them with this
ready market for their milk, at fair prices promptly paid for the
regular supplies. There are now about 200 workers employed
here, and there are the beginnings of a flourishing little
Co-operative community. Mr A. M'Gaw has charge of both
creameries and the margarine factory, and was, indeed, released
from the Army to enable the Wholesale to get on with the
production of margarine. He succeeded the late Mr Robert
Green, who helped to put Bladnoch on a sound foundation.
Besides EnniskOlen, Bladnoch, and Whithorn, the S.C.W.S.
has recently acquired, by purchase, creameries at Stranraer,
Sandhead, and Drummore, all in Wigtownshire ; and at Baity-
money, in Ireland ; but the purchases are so recent that they
have not augmented the volume of Wholesale productions in
the fifty years of Wholesale Co-operation with which this
record deals.
The supply of milk itself was a serious matter for Co-operative
societies for some time. The demand for this article is so wide-
spread, and a supply is so essential for the health of everybody,
that large societies — especially those which did not enter into
the trade until the membership was very large — ^find it a problem
to embark upon the milk trade. Even societies that did begin
to cater for a small membership found the task very considerable
when the membership grew. MUk cannot be produced in a
factory, and the societies had to go farther afield in search of
suppUes, with the result that they found themselves frequently
and unconsciously competing with one another for supplies from
the same farmers. The idea of having extensive farms upon
which aU kinds of essential produce could be raised — including
cattle and milk — ^had been entertained for a considerable time,
and this idea was largely in the minds of the directors and
shareholders when Calderwood Estate was purchased.* The
estabUshment of the Ryelands milk-collecting centre in 1909
was an important step even then overdue. Calderwood was
* See page 422.
CREAMERIES, MARGARINE, AND MILK 359
stocked with milch cows, and the directors entered into
negotiations with the farmers in the Strathaven district. It
was intended to organise a regular supply of milk for the
collecting centre, from which it could be distributed to societies'
dairy departments within reach of the Wholesale's fleet of motor
vehicles. A meeting of farmers was convened early in 1909.
About a hundred attended the meeting and about eighty of
them promised to support the scheme. The centre was pretty
much of an experiment. It was not thought that a wide area
could be supplied from there, but it was intended to establish
similar departments of the Wholesale to meet the needs of other
industrial areas. Ryelands, which is near Strathaven, has
served a useful purpose. It supplies societies with milk, butter-
milk, butter, and cheese, and disposes of nearly half a million
gallons of mUk per year, about 50,000 gallons of which are
derived from Calderwood Estate. During recent years a number
of the retaU societies have begun to face the milk and other
food problems a priori by the purchase of large estates suitable
for farming enterprises.
Towards the end of 1918 additional creameries were
purchased at Kirkmichael (Ayrshire) and East Kilbride.
SAUSAGE, HAM-CURING, AND BACON FACTORIES.
The sausage factory, in the building which occupies the comer
of Park Street and Smith Street, Kinning Park, dates back to
1892 when the factory was established in underground premises
in Morrison Street. It was not in accordance with Co-operative
ideas of hygiene ; but it was not intended that those premises
should be more than temporary. The factory was afterwards
removed to Crookston Street, behind the site of the present
central premises. A fire there necessitated a removal to 119
Paisley Road, where it remained tiU the present premises were
allotted to it on the completion of the building.
The work of the factory includes not only the production
of sausages and cooked meats, but the preparation of cuts of
beef, pork, and mutton for sale to societies. The work is
carried on in five flats of the building, all of which are spacious
and well adapted to their present use. The basement is used
for curing and pickling corned beef and tongues. The ground
360 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
flat, which commiinicates by means of an elevator with all the
other flats, is the packing department, and is equipped with
loading tables which are easily approached by vans and lorries.
The first flat is the butchery department proper, which is
admirably provided with travelling gear so that carcasses and
parts may be removed without difficulty from one part of the
department to another. The equipment is all of the latest,
including two large refrigerators. On the second flat the spicing
and mixing of the meat and the filling of the skins are conducted.
The third floor is utilised for the preparation of cooked meats,
puddings, and lunch sausage, the last two being filled by
hydraulic filling machines. In all these departments every
facihty and aid to cleanliness is provided, and strict attention
is paid to sanitation and ventilation, the result being that the
place is free from that unpleasantness which is so marked a
feature of many establishments devoted to these purposes.
Many small societies that do not pretend to do a fleshing
trade sell sausages and cooked meats, and many large societies
that do fleshing trade sell sausages and cooked meats in their
grocery departments. The Wholesale began this factory to
supply the sausages ; but it could not Idll cattle and pigs only
for the manufacture of sausages, and so the societies began to
sell chops, steaks, cuts of boiling beef, etc., until they popularised
the Co-operative meat, and were eventually able to estabUsh
their own fleshers' shops and do their own killing and dressing.
The sausage factory, therefore, enabled many societies to enter
into the fleshing business, in which some of them have had
singular success. The chief products of the factory are Oxford,
Cambridge, tomato, picnic, ham and tongue, and luncheon
sausages and lunch rolls — ^not to mention haggis when required,
together with a large variety of meat puddings. The cooked
meats produced include " London brawn " ; veal, ham, and
tongue ; spiced beef ; braised beef ; chicken and veal ; ox
tongue ; and roast gigot. These — except, of course, the gigot
— are packed in glass jars and hermetically sealed ; and the
Wholesale's cooked meats are in high favour. All the pork
used in the factory is reared at Calderwood, Bladnoch, and
Enniskillen — the sausage factory takes its pork from nowhere
else. In this building, also, the Glasgow ham-curing factory is
located.
SAUSAGE, HAM-CURING. AND BACON 361
Enniskillen's bacon-curing factory is of growing importance.
Its piggery is the chief feeding ground for the factory. Pig
breeding is not engaged in ; but the Wholesale buys its pigs
young, and rears them until they reach the age and condition
-at which they yield the largest quantity and best quaUty of
bacon. The Ennisldllen* estabhshment of the Wholesale is
■described more graphically in the section relating to creameries ;
but it should be said here that the piggery occupies an ideal
situation on a hill-top close to the curing factory, where every-
thing is conducted on the most hygienic principles. The
piggeries provide accommodation for 600 pigs. The Enniskillen
branch does not cure all the pigs it handles, for, in the last
pre-war year it purchased 29,140 pigs, of which only 2,129
Tvere transferred to the branch, and others were shipped to
Kilmarnock and elsewhere. In the factory the latest methods
are employed, and the place is a veritable network of curing
rooms and refrigerators, roUing rooms and dispatch rooms.
In 1913, 18,940 cwt. of bacon was shipped to the S.C.W.S.
■order, 8,399 cwt. of ham, and a considerable quantity of lard
apart from the pigs transferred to other Wholesale estabhsh-
ments. The trade was, of course, disorganised by the war,
and the restriction of export from Ireland made it necessary
to dispose of considerable quantities in Ireland ; besides which
there were times when the Wholesale could not obtain all the
pigs required to meet the needs of Co-operators. On that
account the transfers from Enniskillen showed a considerable
•decrease in the jubilee year. In 1917 the bacon shipped was
22,343 cwt. and the ham 9,803 cwt., whereas in 1918 the figures
fell to 10,796 cwt. and 4,468 cwt. respectively. The figures
-show how the department was affected by control. We give
the quantities rather than the price here, because between
1914 and 1918 the average price of pigs in the dead meat
markets in Ireland rose from 56/4 per cwt. to 149/9 P^r cwt.
FISH AND FISH CURING.
The Aberdeen Fish Market is one of the sights of the Granite
City ; but, unlike an interesting ruin, it has the disadvantage
•of being seen at its best at an hour when most people are abed.
* See page 332.
362 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
When the fishing craft of all kinds are landing their hauls, and^
on a day when there is a full supply, the market is stocked from,
end to end with fish.
At this great centre of supply the S.C.W.S. has had a station
since 1899, during which period it has been under the charge of
Mr W. C. Stephen, who all his hfe has been connected with the
trade, and whose acquisition has been a decided advantage to-
the Wholesale Society and its clientele. This estabUshment
forms one of a large group all lying near the fish market and'
between the railway and the Dee. From these places all dajr
long come the fumes of burning wood, denoting that curing is
in course of operation, and every now and again there appear on
the street groups of sturdy, bare-armed females, their legs thrust
into long sea-boots, who find employment there as fish-cleaners.
The S.C.W.S. station is not an architectural feature of the
Granite City. It is a plain btiilding, intended for use and not
for ornament ; and it is the third that the Wholesale has had,,
the others having outUved their usefulness because of the extent
to which the trade has grown. The establishment has been an
unqualified success from its very inception, although the trade
has been seriously affected by the war owing to the restrictions
placed upon fishing operations by the Admiralty. In normal
times about 370 trawlers operated from Aberdeen ; and during
the war there were only about 40. That, of course, is typical
of most fishing ports under war conditions ; and those trawlers
that were left were only small ones that could not face very
stormy weather, the best having been converted into mine
sweepers and patrol vessels. More than once the S.C.W.S.
considered the wisdom of having its own trawlers ; but the idea
had always been dropped because a considerable portion of the
fish taken would be unsuitable for the Wholesale's trade, and the
directors and their experts have considered it better to be able
to secure the pick of the market. One of the chief duties of the
manager at the Aberdeen station is to select fish at the busy
market every day ; and, as the Wholesale does a cash trade, it
can secure the best supplies available. While the war has so
curtailed the fish suppUes, it is generally beUeved that the trade
wiU be one of the first to recover from the effects of the war^
and the fact that the fish had been left in their natural element for
several years should conduce to abundant supphes for some time.
FISH AND FISH CURING 363
The Wholesale trade at Aberdeen covers cured fish, salted
fish, fresh fish, cod liver oil, fish meal. The curing establishment
is admirably equipped for deahng with large supplies of fish.
First in importance comes the pale haddock, then finnans and
smoked fiUets. The Wholesale Society, by the way, was one of
the pioneers of the smoked fillet trade, which has proved an
extremely popular line. Smoked Ung, smoked cod, salt ling, and
salt cod and kippers are fairly big branches of the Aberdeen
trade ; and the quantities of smoked haddocks and kippers
suppUed by their station might properly be described as
enormous. The salt fish trade was commenced in 1903 to keep
the workers regularly employed. In 1906 the manufacture of
fish sausages was commenced. The cod liver oil extracting
department is one with excellent facihties, and the Wholesale
is said to produce the best oil on the market. The Uvers are
taken out of the fish as soon as they reach the station, and they
are manipulated at once, so that the oil is produced under the
best conditions, instead of leaving them to lie for several days.
The fish meal, which is used for feeding stuffs or for fertilisers,
is produced from fish offal. The fresh fish trade is expected to
develop very largely as the retail societies enter more completely
into the fish trade.
Round figures relating to the output from this department
show sales of 164,484 stones, valued at £23,681 in 1901 ; in 1903
this had gone up to 230,595 stones valued at £38,320, to which
had to be added 24 tons of salt fish, the handling of which only
began in that year. The sales for 1914 amounted to 370,605
stones (a decrease of 3,646 stones for the year, owing to war),
118 tons of salt fish, 34 barrels of cod liver oil, and 13 tons of
rough oil. As has already been pointed out, the whole fishing
industry was disorganised during the next few years, and the
cod liver oil production was especially hurt. For 1918 226,220
stones of fish were disposed of, nevertheless, their value being
£168,500 ; besides which there were 10,574 boxes of red herrings
sold.
AERATED WATER FACTORIES.
The sale of intoxicants by a Co-operative society is a bar to
its joining the Wholesale, but the S.C.W.S., in order to satisfy
the "appetite for drink," has developed a big trade in mineral
364 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
waters and other non-intoxicating beverages. The supplies of
minerals, or aerated waters, produced by the S.C.W.S. in its
own works approach ^70,000 a year in transfer value.
The production of these goods is carried on in four factories,
the first of which was established in Glasgow in 1897. The
Leith factory, housed in the buildings at Links Place, was
established in 1898. Only three years later a factory had to be
opened at Stirling as an auxiUary to Glasgow, and Leith had
an auxiliary factory established at Dunfermline in 1906. The
most important of the factories is the Glasgow factory. The
considerable difference in its output as compared with the other
factories ought to speak volumes for the greater temperance of
the West of Scotland as compared with the rest of the country,
but the rest of the country would probably resent any inference
of that kind from the figures relating to these factories. The
Excise Duty levied upon these goods during the war, the cost
of materials, and the difficulty in securing bottles and syphons
owing to war conditions, all tended to increase the price and
to interfere otherwise with the progressive extension of the
trade, and so the figures relative to 1918 are slightly below the
figures relative to 1914. In 1914 the output was as follows : —
Glasgow factory, 304,883 dozen bottles and 17,408 dozen
syphons ; Leith, 103,529 dozen bottles and 1,061 dozen syphons ;
StirUng 72,335 dozen bottles and 1,254 dozen syphons;
Dunfermline, 107,211 dozen bottles and 320 dozen syphons.
Total — 587,958 dozen bottles and 20,043 dozen syphons. In
1918 the figures were :— Glasgow, 335.323 dozen bottles and
35,238 dozen syphons; Leith, 48,390 dozen bottles and 685
dozen syphons ; Stirling, 49,060 dozen bottles and 1,797 dozen
sjrphons ; Dunfermline, 62,925 dozen bottles and 171 dozen
syphons. Total— 495,698 dozen bottles and 37,891 dozen
syphons. Worked out at the number of bottles of " fizzers "
per year to every Co-operative family in Scotland, it does not
seem as if Co-operators had taken to drink — drink of this kind
— to a reprehensible extent ; nevertheless, the figures show that
the trade is very considerable.
The productions are of a varied character — except as to
quality, which is invariably good. The constant grumble of the
man who takes an occasional dram is that there are no " decent
teetotal drinks." The S.C.W.S. has ahnost solved that man's
AERATED WATER FACTORIES 365
problem for him by producing a hop ale which ought to satisfy
him. There are other brands of hop ale, but many connoisseurs
regard the S.C.W.S. production as an ideal drink — sharp, thirst-
quenching, brisk, and free from the sticky sweetness that makes
so many teetotal drinks objectionable. In 1920, it is anticipated,
Scotland wiU have the opportunity of exercising its own wUl
under the Licensing Act which comes into force. There will,
undoubtedly, be a big wave of opinion turning towards
Prohibition, and the concern which provides the most palatable,
healthy, and desirable temperance beverage wiU do a service to
a community which is likely to make a big change. The success
of the S.C.W.S. in the production of this non-intoxicant hop ale
augurs well.
In 1916 the Glasgow factory, tiU then in Paterson Street,
was transferred to St James Street, Kinning Park. It is a
model factory in which, hke aU S.C.W.S. factories for the
preparation of articles to be eaten or drunk, everything possible
is done to secure purity. Loch Katrine water has an excellent
reputation for its purity and wholesomeness, but it does not
come up to the S.C.W.S. standard of perfection, and so the
water is all filtered in the factory and is thereafter passed
through tin tubes, so as to secure absolute protection against
lead poisoning. While this precaution is taken with regard to
the water that is to be used, the utmost precautions are also
taken to secure the cleanUness of the bottles. The syrup room
is a notable feature of the factory. Here the various syrups or
essences are mixed to produce the various aerated waters as
required. The gas generating plant for aeration purposes is also
on an extensive scale, for the Wholesale is hopeful that, much
as the trade in aerated waters has grown, it may be quadrupled
before long. The carbonate process is used in connection with
the brewing of hop ale. The trade in syphons of minerals is
rapidly growing, and should grow even more rapidly when all
the war's obstacles are removed. The syphon-fiUing plant
installed in the new factory disposes of thirty dozen per hour.
The bottHng plant for the mineral waters is quite the latest
equipment of the kind, and the last record can be left behind
quite easily. The factory is probably one of the best equipped
in the trade.
366 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
SHIELDHALL AND ITS INTERESTS.
Shieldhall will be associated with Glasgow's greatness for
generations to come by all who measure a city's greatness by
the happiness and prosperity of its people. Co-operators know
what their own enterprise there has done for the welfare of the
people, not only in Glasgow but all over Scotland ; nevertheless,
it is well that those who own the great factories which give
employment to thousands of persons there should know
something more of the place than most of them do.
The name Shield Hall was once as well known in society
circles as Shieldhall is in Co-operative circles. Ten years ago
the old mansion of Shield Hall estate might have been seen,
but its glory has faded now. It does not stand on S.C.W.S. land.
It stands on a site now hidden by the adjacent sawmills. It
was a stately mansion in its time, with its conservatories and
vineries, its old-time gardens, and its old-time sundial. Its
stables held the choicest hunters and its kennels the fleetest
hounds. Its rooms housed many a brilliant throng and its
tables bore many a princely feast. Like most mansions, too,
it had a skeleton lurking in one of its cupboards, for one of its
occupants hanged himself in the garden.
The records of its owners and the characteristics and history
of the old house formed the subject of at least two articles in
the Co-operative News, and an interesting little article also
appeared, shortly before the building was dismantled, in the
Evening Times, the contributor being Mr T. C. F. Brotchie.
From these we cull the notes which follow for the information
of Co-operators generally.
The first portion of the house was erected about 1720 by
BaiUe Thomas Hamilton of Glasgow. Misfortune followed him
and he had to sell out. Several other occupants had but shori
tenure of the place, and in 1746 the mansion and its lands were
purchased by John Wilson, who was wealthy enough to make a
gift of £450 to the Town's Hospital. (If we are not mistaken,
the same John Wilson was Town Clerk of Glasgow, and had his
office in a close in Saltmarket, long known as Wilson's Close.)
Wilson's successor had no better luck than Bsdlie Hamilton,
and his creditors sold him up. Shield Hall fell to Alexander
Oswald, a Glasgow merchant, whose family did much for the
SHIELDHALL AND ITS INTERESTS 367
"welfare of the city for a century and a half. Richard Oswald
and his brother Alexander were weU known in Glasgow in the
early part of the eighteenth century as merchants and ship-
owners. They owned three ships out of Glasgow's total foreign
fleet, which only numbered forty-one brigantines and sloops in
1735. These three vessels traded very largely between Glasgow
and the West Indies, Madeira, and Virginia, deahng chiefly in
tobacco and wine. Their stores were constructed in Oswald's
Land, in Stockwell. Oswald Street, which runs from the
Broomielaw to Argyle Street, is named after the family, because
part of it formed the garden of the family's town house, which
was one of two mansions which, when Argyle Street began to
be built in, lost their former glory and constituted business
premises which, from the trade of the Oswalds in Madeira wine,
came to be called Madeira Court. The Alexander Oswald who
purchased Shield Hall was a son of Richard Oswald and the
nephew of Richard's partner in trade. Richard and Alexander
were sons of the Rev. James Oswald of Watten, and they had
a cousin, the son of the Rev. George Oswald of Dunnet. This
cousin came to Glasgow, but settled in London, paying frequent
visits to North America, where he had acquired large possessions.
In 1782 he signed, as a British Commissioner, the preUminary
articles of peace between Great Britain and the United States
of America which recognised the independence of our former
colonies. On the American side the treaty was signed by
Benjamin FrankUn and John Adams. Alexander Oswald, the
first of the family to occupy Shield Hall, was a man of pohtical
opinions so advanced that he incurred the displeasure of many
of his feUow merchants in the city, and it is said that a warrant
was actually issued for his arrest. It was hostihty such as this
that made him give up his house in town, and take to the
seclusion of Shield Hall. He was a man who never hesitated
to give his personal or material help to any movement for the
elevation of the people of Glasgow. Among his purchases of
land in the city was Windmill Croft, part of which constitutes
Kingston Dock.*
It is interesting, therefore, to know that the first S.C.W.S.
premises in Madeira Court were situated in property that once
belonged to this family, that the Shieldhall Works are built
*See page 303.
368 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
upon what constituted part of Alexander Oswald's estate, and
that the present central premises are also built on ground that
was once his.
Alexander Oswald died at Shield Hall in 1813. His son
James, who succeeded him, was one of the Glasgow pioneers of
Reform, and was one of the two members chosen to represent
Glasgow in ParUament in the first election following the passing
of the Act. He sat in Parliament from 1832-1837, and again
from 1839-1847. He was also one of Glasgow's ten delegates
at the World's Convention in London, in 1840, to oppose the
slave trade, and his personal companions were Daniel O'CormeU.
and the anti-slavery orator, George Thomson. He succeeded
to a family estate in 1841 and removed there. A Glasgow
merchant, Alexander Johnstone, who was M.P. for Kilmarnock
Burghs for a time, acquired the estate in 1841 ; his son
succeeded in 1844, but in 1855 he died, leaving the estate in
trust. It was sold to James Scott and John Proudf oot, merchants,
in 1872 ; in 1875 it was sold to Robert CasseUs, an iron merchant,
and then passed into the possession of the Glasgow Iron &
Steel Co. Ltd.
Mr Maxwell complained of having to pay £500 per acre, for
the ground at Shieldhall when the first portion was bought in
1887, and complained of the price having risen to £1,000 per
acre in 1905. It has been mentioned already * that the price
had risen to £1,400 per acre in 1914. The S.C.W.S. found the
price almost trebled in twenty-six years. In 1841, when James
Oswald left Shield Hall, the whole estate fetched £33,000.
"When it was sold in 1872, thirty-one years later, it had more
than trebled, for the price was £113,000 ; and three years
later, when it changed hands again, Robert CasseUs paid
£158,000 for it.
The present appearance of Shieldhall is likely to be subjected
to considerable alteration. The change which has made
Morrison Street a leading thoroughfare instead of a " back
street " f is an indication of what is Ukely to happen at
Shieldhall. The Clyde Navigation Trust have akeady obtained
Parliamentary authority for the construction of a new dock,
which will cause a diversion of the Renfrew Road (on which the
entrance to Shieldhall Works is situated). The road which runs
* See page 129. -f See page 304.
SPINNING AND WEAVING
TAYBANK WORKS
(1) Jute Yarn Winding Department. (2) Jute Weaving Department.
CO X
a
3 t
UJ ^
< ^
SHIELDHALL AND ITS INTERESTS 369
along the west side of the works will be the only division
between the works and the new dock, and will still lead to
Renfrew, as the old Paisley Road along the Kingston docks
leads to Paisley, but it is not Ukely to be the main thorough-
fare, because it will mean a long road. There are plans in
existence, recently prepared by the city authorities, for the
construction of a new road which will skirt the south side of
the new dock and proceed eastward, almost in a straight line,
till it joins with Paisley Road West. That will probably be
the main thoroughfare, and what now constitutes the front of
Shieldhall Works may become the back, as the old front
of the Drapery Warehouse is no longer the front entrance.
Posterity, however, will appreciate, perhaps even more than
present-day Co-operators, the picture of the Shieldhall front
as it was intended to be. The front has been completed on the
west side of the handsome gateway (the visitor's right on
entering the works). Shortly before the war broke out it was
intended to proceed with the erection of the other wing, but
the war stopped that enterprise owing to the restrictions on
building and the cost of materials, and, in view of the prospective
changes outlined above, the plans may not now be completed.
Passengers on the trams between Glasgow and Renfrew used
to enjoy the vista of orderly and clean roadways between the
various factories. Within the gates there are about thirty
different industries carried on, and it is doubtful if such a hive
of varied industries exists anj^where else. There are over
5,000 employees engaged there producing food, furniture, boots
and clothing ; packing cases are made for the dispatch of the
goods ; all kinds of tinware containers are made for the goods ;
wrappers and labels are printed for the making up of the goods ;
bags and boxes are made for the use of the societies selling the
goods over the counter ; stationery is produced, printed, and
bound for the business of the Wholesale and its members. The
engineering department fits up and repairs the machinery, and
keeps the electric power and light in order. A weU-equipped
and well-trained fire brigade protects the factories by constant
inspection and ceaseless watchfulness and readiness to answer
the automatic alarm installation in every department. Fully
skilled and equipped ambulance corps are ever ready to render
first aid in the works, in which the most generous safeguards
2 A
370 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
are in use on all machinery to reduce the risk of accident to
a minimum. A private telephone exchange keeps communica-
tion open between Shieldhall and the rest of the island.
C6mmodious dining rooms are provided, in which meals are
served by the Society's own catering department, whose aim
is service and not profit.
BOOT AND SHOE PRODUCTION.
The Wholesale Society sold more than two and a half million
pairs of boots and shoes in igi8. That, in the language of our
American cousins, is " some trade " at a time when the
constantly rising price of boots led the average worker to
conclude that purchases should be deferred, unless comfort and
respectability made the purchase imperative. There was a time
when " a few bundles of slippers " constituted the Wholesale's
stock in footwear, but that is long ago. The establishment of
the drapery department led to developments in the boot and
shoe trade, and as the trade grew the making of boots and shoes
was a natural consequence of the selling of boots and shoes.
The chief cause of lament among the Wholesale directors and
the buyers for the retail societies is that there is such a difference
between the quantity sold by the S.C.W.S. and the quantity
made, but the difference is being rapidly reduced because of the
excellent quaUty, style, and variety of the Wholesale productions.
The Wholesale's interest in boots and shoes is divided over
several establishments — ^namely, the factory at Shieldhall, the
auxihary factory at Adelphi Street, Glasgow, the tanning and
currying department at Shieldhall, and the boot and shoe
warehouse.
The factories are two in number — the Shieldhall factory and
Parkview factory. The Shieldhall factory originated in the
drapery department's building, near the central premises, in
1884, but in 1888 it was transferred to Shieldhall. The factory
was opened in January, and in the March following Mr Peter
Macfarlane, who is now manager, joined the staff. In 1894
Parkview factory was erected on ground secured at Adelphi
Street, Glasgow. It is an auxihary to the Shieldhall factory,
and speciaUses in footwear for boys and girls and in sHppers.
It is an important auxihary, however, which employed 261
BOOT AND SHOE PRODUCTION 371
persons before the war disorganised the labour supply. In that
year the Shieldhall factory employed 1,050 persons, and 135
were employed in the warehouse. When boot and shoe produc-
tion was first undertaken the output from the factory for the
first year averaged 370 pairs per week. In 1913 the total output
from the factories averaged 15,160 pairs weekly, or considerably
over three-quarters of a million pairs for the year. In 1914
a serious fire in the factory disorganised the production con-
siderably from the month of February, and before the damage
done could be restored the war had broken out, leather was
commandeered for miUtary purposes, and restrictions of that
kind, prevailed almost to the end of 1918, so that in the jubilee
year the total output had dwindled to about 550,000 pairs.
The gradual removal of restrictions on supphes of leather is
welcomed, not only by the directors and managers of the
S.C.W.S., but by the managers of the retail societies and their
members, for during the years in which the factories developed
and extended the demand for Shieldhall boots and shoes had
grown enormously. Co-operators had acquired a liking for
Shieldhall productions because of the excellent wear they gave,
because of the finish of the goods, and because of the rapidly
extending variety of " fits " that could be obtained from their
own factories. A member of the Glasgow Corporation declared
one evening at a Co-operative gathering that he had discovered
that the best value and satisfaction he could get in boots came
from ShieldhaU boots, and that the best and most durable
repairs he could get done were done by the Co-operative society
in his district. His experience was common to most Co-
operators, and to that is due the great extent of the Shieldhall
factory, which is the largest boot factory in Scotland and the
largest factory in Shieldhall. In a normal year no fewer than
80,000 goatskins were required for glace kid boots and shoes,
and 200,000 hides were used, besides more than 300 tons of sole
leather. These supplies are obtained from Britain, India,
Canada, Africa, America, and some were obtained from Germany
before the war.
The boot factory is in the large range of buildings on the
left after passing through the gateway in Renfrew Road ; and
the visitor on entering is simply bewildered by the intricate
masses of machinery. AU the best firms engaged in the pro-
372 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
duction of bootmaking machinery have contributed to the
equipment of this factory. The operations are so numerous
and are carried out by such a division of labour that one wonders
how the old shoemaker of St Crispin's time could sit down at
his door and proceed to make a pair of boots. Incidentally it
may be mentioned that employees of the Wholesale went
through the red struggle at Soissons, the town in which
St Crispin and his brother worked at the craft in the third
century. The utmost care is taken in the designing of the lasts
to suit the numerous tender shapes of the foot. The patterns
having been properly prepared, they are passed into the cUcldng
room along with the necessary supplies of leather. The clicking
process is the cutting out of the boot tops — including quarters,
vamps, toecaps, counters, goloshes, and linings. Much of the
•work is hand done, because the chcker has to examine the skins
and to obviate as much waste as possible. Rougher quahties,
however, are cUcked by machinery. The various parts required
to complete a boot top are put together, and these are sent in
gross bundles to the machine room or closing room. The sole
leather, it should be added, is cut out by means of dies, shaped
with the same consideration for the fact that the Co-operative
movement sets out to cover and protect aU kinds of feet. In
the closing room there are machines of wonderful ingenuity.
Some are of the ordinary sewing machine type, some have twin
needles in operation, and some make several stitches simul-
taneously while parts are trimmed off at the same time the
stitching is proceeding. Some machines used for button-hohng
punch the necessary holes in the leather, and stitch the edges
at the rate of 6,000 holes a day ; while others complete 200
eyelets per minute. From the closing room the boots proceed
to the bottoming room where the soles and the uppers are joined.
The soles are hammered into the shape of the foot by machinery ;
the channel for the stitching is cut by machinery. The lasting
machines puU the uppers over the inner soles and join the two
parts. Welts are sewn on by machinery in thirty seconds ;
the soles are cemented into position ; the soles are stitched to
the welts ; and the heels are added to the boot. In the finishing
Toom the soles and heels are trimmed at the edges by traveUing
knives ; revolving sand-paper wheels make the edges smooth,
and polish the soles and heels ; after which the ShieldhaU trade
BOOT AND SHOE PRODUCTION SVS
mark is branded on every perfect boot. The next department
is the treeing room, where the boots are " treed " to their proper
shape and pohshed ready to wear ; but as the boots have 'to-
be sold first, they are boxed, and the Shieldhall boot factory
produces its own boxes. The cardboard is cut and stamped
to make various sizes ; these are put together, and the boxed
boots are then ready for dispatch to the warehouse or to the
purchasing society. -The leather stock room is a large part of
the estabUshment ; and even in preparing the leather for the-
operatives the old shoemaker's methods are discarded, for the
leather, instead of being hammered on the old-time lapstone,
is subjected to treatment, which effects the same purpose, by
powerful rollers.
The Wholesale began to do the currying of part of its own
leather in 1889, and the tanning factory was established in
1894. Both departments are adjacent to the boot factory.
The raw hides are first salted to prevent decay tiQ they reach
the tannery. At the tannery they are soaked in water and
then in lime pits to eliminate the salt and clean the hides. The
Hme-pit treatment also loosens the hairs, and the next process
is the removal of the hairs and fleshing. The skins are then
washed to remove the Ume, fat glands, and what is called " lime
soap " which is created by the action of the lime on the animal
fat. From this stage they are transferred to the actual tanning
pits, where the skins are deposited in liquors which are gradually
increased in strength till the tanning process is completed and
the skin is transformed into leather. It is not yet in the con-
dition required for use, for it is stiff and crusty, and the currying
factory's job is to convert this into the material fit for
manufacture. The skins are dressed by various processes.
The leather hide is " spht " to a uniform substance ; and the
necessary grain, phancy, polish, and colour are secured before
the leather reaches the clickers in the boot factory. The
Wholesale could tan more leather ; but the policy is to prepare
only the selected hides that it can use for its own high-class
productions, and, as it is, it pits about a third of the hides it
requires for the factory.
The warehouse had its origin in the drapery warehouse, and
the boot department occupied the portion at the corner of
Paterson Street and Wallace Street, Glasgow. It is now
374 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
situated at the extreme south end of Dundas Street, where it
adjoins several other departments of the S.C.W.S. The building
there was purchased in 1897 because it was thought it might be
serviceable to the Society. It was plain, though substantial,
and eventually the Society's master of works, Mr James
Davidson, was instructed to prepare plans for its use as a boot
warehouse. Extensive alterations were made to suit the new
purpose, and the warehouse was opened with considerable
ceremony in March 1902. It has been extended and improved
since then to meet the trade, which has grown from £350,000
to £1,330,000 in 1918. The basement is used for the storage of
surplus stocks, packing cases, etc. There is a huge packing hall
on the ground floor, but here also are the clerical departments,
the managers' rooms, and special exhibition showcases, displaying
the wide range of goods which the factories produce — from
foot wear for the nursery to miners' boots, and, in the opposite
direction, to the smartest footwear for ladies or gentlemen.
The floors above are set apart for the various grades, heavy
and fine, for men, women, and children. The stocks are such
as are required in the boot and shoe departments of the retail
societies, but they also comprise aU kinds of leather for use in
the boot repairing departments which most retail societies have
established.
THE PRINTING DEPARTMENT.
The printing department is, in many respects, one of the most
interesting of the Shieldhall establishments. The department
was inaugurated in 1887, when two small presses were installed
in the grocery buildings in Clarence Street, Glasgow, with a
staff of less than a dozen. The manager, Mr David Campbell,
who is stiU at its head, was a master of his craft who had also
a keen Co-operative enthusiasm, and so he made the department
singularly successful from the beginning. In 1889 it was found
necessary to transfer the department to " larger and more
commodious premises " at Shieldhall, where the work grew so
rapidly that extension after extension has had .to be made in
the premises allocated to the printing and allied trades.
Those allied trades are numerous. Bookbinding had been
begun before the department went to Shieldhall. Paper ruling
I
THE PRINTING DEPARTMENT 375
had also been begun in Glasgow. Bagmaking was commenced
in 1889. Lithographic work was undertaken in 1891. A stereo
and electrotyping department was opened in 1900. Boxmaking
was added in 1903. Mechanical type-setting was also intro-
duced in 1903, by which time the department had also its staff
of artists.
The demands upon the department are enormous. Its
business is to, supply the factories, warehouses, and of&ces of
the S.C.W.S. itself with tons of stationery, millions of labels
and wrappers, countless showcards and packing boxes, to say
nothing of the thousands of tons of ordinary printed matter
for the Society's own business and for the business of the
distributive societies ; and a walk through the department
would convince a visitor that the orders pouring into Shieldhall
must be enormous, for the S.C.W.S. has probably one of the
biggest printing works in Scotland. It produces the Scottish
Co-operator every week, which is a fairly big order by itself
employing a substantial staff. The Co-operative societies'
balance-sheets, published to give members all possible details
of the business, are extensive documents containing bewildering
masses of figures. These are produced, in most cases, quarterly,
and, as much of the type has to be kept standing from quarter
to quarter, the amount of material required is enormous and
. the number of up-to-date printing machines is amazing.
Monotype machines are used for setting up the type, and, despite
the excellent equipment the department has in this respect, it
is one of the busiest at ShieldhaU. Societies' rules, programmes
for meetings, conferences, concerts, social gatherings, dances,
and dinners, biUs and tickets for shop windows, reports by
committees, committee minutes, price Usts (including the
Wholesale's weekly hst), and checks for members' purchases
are among the chief items that count in the way of letterpress.
The multitudinous departments, offices, and shops of the
Wholesale and the retail societies require an enormous quantity
of account books. In this the printing department does a large
business. Books with specially ruled pages are required, and
the machines which turn out thousands of large sheets of writing
paper ruled in blue, with red columns for money or other figures,
arouse the curiosity and interest of most visitors. These sheets
are ruled to suit all kinds of books from the ledger or the record
376 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
book to the passbook in which the members' purchases at the
store are noted ; the sheets are cut to the requirfed size, stitched,
and bound to order. There is no account or record book too
large or too small, too complicated or too simple, to be produced
at Shieldhall.
The bookbinding department is splendidly equipped and
efi&ciently and expeditiously worked. The member's passbook
is perhaps the simplest of its productions, but it also turns out
books like Congress handbooks, to say nothing of presentation
souvenirs bound in the richest of leather, embossed or blocked
or tooled. The histories of more than a score of societies have
been produced at Shieldhall, and one is always in doubt whether
to admire most the accurate work of the compositor, the fine,
clear production of the printer, the care and skiQ of the binder,
or the taste of the Shieldhall artists who design the covers.
The productive departments of the Society call upon
Shieldhall for wrappers and labels, notably the confectionery,
preserve, tobacco, soap, and chemical departments. The Utho
process is that chiefly used for work of this kind, and in the
production of these articles the artists and the lithographers
are equally entitled to credit for the excellence attained and
maintained. Every facihty is given to the staff for the
production of first-clciss work, and the best and latest in
materials, plant, and equipment are provided. The Shieldhall
works were, we believe, the first in Scotland to use the rotary
off-set Hthographic machine, which created quite a little
revolution in Utho work. A drawback in Utho-rotary machines
had always been the accumulation of water on the stone or
plate. By the rotary " off-set " machine the difficulty was
overcome. The impression, instead of being transferred from
the stone to the paper, is first of all transferred to a rubber
cylinder, which transfers it to the paper in much the same way
as the cylinder of the ordinary rotary printing machine ; the
fine work formerly obtainable only by the Utho process is
secured, with a clearer impression and greater speed than in
earlier rotary Utho machines. This is only one example of
ShieldhaU's pioneering of improvements in methods.
The artists' department is constantly busy, and many new
and striking designs originate there. There is no Umit to the
work of the department, and some great changes have been
THE PRINTING DEPARTMENT 37T
made in the class of work turned out. In earlier days the
department undertook the execution of printing blocks for the
Scottish Co-operator and for advertising leaflets when the process
block had not attained its popularity and its present-day
excellence. Then the picture was drawn on a slab of chalk ;
the lines were etched out with a tool that resembled an awl
with a slightly bent point to which was attached a tube and
bulb by means of which the chalk powder scooped out was-
blown off the surface. The slab then acted as a mould from
which the printing block was made, and some of the old
illustrations in the Scottish Co-operator bear witness to the skill
with which the Shieldhall artists did their work. The most
attractive of showcards and similar art productions are now
designed at Shieldhall, and, within recent years, illumination
for complimentary addresses and other articles for presentation
has been undertaken with conspicuous success. The designing
of the coloured work mentioned is a preliminary to the execution
at Shieldhall of some splendid three-colour printing work. The
average reader may be at sea as to what this means exactly,
but most wiU have seen specimens of the highly artistic wall
calendars issued year after year by the Wholesale Society, in
some of which the pictures are the work of Shieldhall artists
and in others of which the pictures are the work of artists of
national and international repute. The reproduction of all
these fine variations of colour by the printing press is one of the
supreme tests of a printing department, and Shieldhall can
present its specimens to any jury of experts confident of a
highly satisfactory verdict.
The boxmaking department, inaugurated in 1903, supplies
ordinary pasteboard boxes for use in the Wholesale works and.
in the retail societies. It has developed into a big branch of
the Shieldhall business now, but plain work no longer marks-
the limit of Shieldhall enterprise. The most artistic work
imaginable is now turned out in the form of boxes not merely
decoratively printed but exquisitely upholstered in velvet,
silk, and satin, and other rich materials. These boxes are-
meant to contain fancy bottles of perfume and other gift articles.
The paper-bag industry, as carried on at Shieldhall, simply
astounds the visitor. The products range from the coarse blue
paper or brown paper bags in which sugar, fruit, and heavier
378 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
articles are sold over Co-operative counters to the more
delicate little bags in which sweets are sold. In fact, every kind
of paper bag used in any Co-operative store is produced at
Shieldhall. The machinery used is of wonderful capacity.
The visitor sees the wheels go round ; a large reel of paper
feeds the machine ; and when the paper emerges at the end
of the machine it has been cut into shape, formed into a bag,
the joins of the paper in each bag pasted and fixed, and the
name and address of the Society for which it is intended printed
on the side along with any other advertising matter ordered.
In 1914 the S.C.W.S. stationery department sold 900 tons of
block-bottom bags and more than 29 miUion biscuit bags.
These were produced at ShieldhaU by means of these machines.
The printing department occupies the first large building
on the right immediately inside the ShieldhaU gate. It
constitutes the only part of the Shieldhall front that has been
•completed and is, naturally, the first department to which a
visitor turns when on a trip to Shieldhall ; but the work under-
taken there, as this brief description may perhaps indicate, is
■so varied and interesting that many visitors do not get further
than the printing department. Every paper and board
producing country in the world is tapped for supplies of
material, and the manager has frequently explored Northern
Europe in search of the best sources of supply. The war affected
the department very seriously owing to the restrictions upon
paper supplies — restrictions to which the emaciated appearance
of every newspaper in the country bore pathetic testimony —
and the department was not the only Wholesale department
that had to refuse to accept aU the orders sent in. Mr Campbell
has excellent assistants, and he and the staff must often marvel
when they recall that the value of the output of the department
in 1888 — after a year's trial run — was only £3,200. In the last
pre-war year the output was £70,587, and in 1918 it was
£142,530. Shieldhall pioneered the forty-eight hours week in
the city ; and the printing and allied departments employed 340
persons in 1918 when military exigencies had demanded their
toU.
THE CLOTHING FACTORIES 379
THE CLOTHING FACTORIES.
Next to the feeding of the Co-operators of Scotland, the clothing
of them is the most important function the movement has to
perform, and, Uke everything else it attempts, the S.C.W.S.
does this well. The sales in articles of clothing are included in
the total recorded to the credit of the drapery warehouse ; but
the value of the goods produced in the Society's own factories
related to the drapery warehouse amounted, in 1918, to
£357,464. These factories comprise the artisan clothing,
ready-made clothing, bespoke clothing, juvenile clothing,
underclothing, wool shirts, dress shirt (including laundry),
waterproof, mantle, and hosiery (two) factories ; but do not
include the tweed and blanket mills or the Taybank jute works.
We might, indeed, include the products of the tweed mills, for
their products go to the manufacture of clothing, and the
enormous resources of the S.C.W.S. in the manufacture of cloth
and clothing was one of the most cheerful discoveries the War
Office made when hundreds of thousands of soldiers were being
drilled in mufti because their uniforms could not be produced
fast enough by the firms favoured with the earliest contracts.
The first tailoring factory was inaugurated in 1881, in
Dundas Street, Glasgow, where premises were rented. It was
eventually transferred to Shieldhall, where it so developed that
the original factory is represented by four distinct factories —
the ready-made and artisan clothing factories, which occupy
the buUdings immediately behind the dining rooms at Shieldhall,
and the bespoke clothing and juvenile clothing factories which
are both situated in Paterson Street, Glasgow. The artisan
clothing factory came into being in 1S90 ; the bespoke was
separated and transferred to Paterson Street in 1897, and the
juvenUe factory has only had a separate existence in the
accounts of the Society since 1912. AH kinds of ready-mades
for men's and boys' ordinary wear are produced at Shieldhall ;
the artisan factory is engaged in the manufacture of working
clothing — serge jackets, moleskin trousers, dongarees, working
skirts, and similar articles. The juvenile clothing factory has
thoroughly established itself, and the output of smart suits
for boys — from the everyday school rig-out to the most
gorgeous " garb of old Gaul " — ^is highly satisfactory. The
380 . WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
figures relating to these factories represent only the price for
making up, the price of the cloth which is sent from the drapery
warehouse not being included in the amount credited to the
factory for its output. The bespoke clothing factory is
differently conducted; for the garments made there are all
made to measure from cloth picked by the wearer. The
productions of all the factories are all excellent ; some of the
most highly placed officials in the movement are admirably
clothed by the bespoke department ; and the high standard
of excellence shown is evidenced by the frequent and important
contracts for uniforms — even for high poUce officials — placed
with the Wholesale by public bodies. The bespoke factory
accepts and fulfils orders from most of the Co-operative
societies in Scotland — or from all that have not tailoring
departments of their own. The value of the transfers from
the various factories for the year 1918 was : — Ready-made,
£40,644 ; artisan, £12,527 ; bespoke, £31.458 ; juvenile,
£22,761. The war, naturally, depleted the factories of their
workers ; but in 1914 when things were normal there were
employed in the ready-made 465 workers and 272 machines ;
artisan, 185 workers and 171 machines ; bespoke, 252 workers
and 179 machines ; and juvenile, 117 workers and 114 machines.
The factories may all be described as nearly ideal. They
are large, well ventilated, and well Ughted ; and every attention
is paid to the comfort and convenience of the employees. The
machines are aU driven by power ; and the skill with which the
work is done is marvellous. In the ready-made factories the
goods are produced in bulk. The designing of the garment and
the cutting of the cloth in order to secure style for the wearer
and to eliminate waste in the factories are matters that require
the application of skill and science. The shapes of the various
pieces that go to make a garment are cut in metal, and from
that the shape is chalked upon a piece of cloth which is placed
upon three or four dozen pieces of the same sizfe. These pieces
are placed upon the cutting machine, and a knife cuts through
the lot, the " cutter " in charge of the operation having nothing
to do but guide the cloth so that the knife will cut where the
chalk line is. The various parts are then placed together so
that the machinist is saved trouble ; and eventually backs,
sides, coUars, sleeves, pockets, linings, stayings, etc., are
THE CLOTHING FACTORIES 381
properly stitched. The machines are adapted to various
purposes ; and the workers all excel at their own operations,
whether putting in pockets, making buttonholes, binding,
pressing, or braiding. At every stage towards its completion
•every garment is examined, and if it is not right it is not allowed
to pass. The work is done at considerable speed ; but the
departments all give satisfaction to their customers, even the
ready-made departments engaged in the production of
women's and girls' clothes.
These factories do not exhaust the clothing factories. The
waterproof and oilskin factory is one which has shown con-
siderable enterprise. The making of waterproofs was commenced
in 1896 in order to supply not only the S.C.W.S., but the
English C.W.S. In 1911, the manufacture of oilskins was
commenced, and the work was transferred to its present home
in Park Street, Glasgow, in 1913. Mr William Boyd, who is
stiU in charge of the factory, initiated both undertakings. The
factory produces ladies' and gents' garments besides covers for
vans and lorries, fishing stockings and oth er waterproof articles ;
but it is more susceptible, so far as its production of garments is
concerned, to the vagaries of fashion which may occasion an
abnormal increase, or an abnormal decline in trade for a season.
The factory does not only produce the finished articles, but it
proofs the material used in making the articles. The light
transparent oilskin coats which are sometimes very much in
demand are made from Jap silk converted into " oilskin " ;
and that conversion is effected in this factory, the best linseed
5il being used in the process. From the production of one of these
garments to the production of a weatherproof lorry cover is a
far cry ; but the operations of the factory embrace both trades.
The articles produced in the factory are highly popular. As
many as 50,000 garments have been sent out in a single year ;
and as an evidence of the progress of the factory, it may be
mentioned that in 1912 it only employed 20 persons, but by
1917 these had increased to 109. It should be added, also,
that the factory has to its credit a number of important
contracts from public bodies.
The mantle factory, established in 1891, is another important
branch of the clothing departments of the productive
enterprise of the Wholesale. It began in Paisley Road, Glasgow,
382 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
was transferred to Wallace Street, then to Shieldhall, but
finally got back to the city, where it has found a home in
the drapery warehouse buildings in Paterson Street. It has
been a useful addition to the business, and it provides
employment for about 60 persons, who work under the excellent
conditions that prevail throughout the service. Mention must
also be made of the blouse-robe factory — one of the latest —
which was only getting into working order when the Jubilee
year dawned.
The various factories owned by the S.C.W.S. work in harmony
with each other and some are closely related. This is specially
so with regard to those connected with the clothing trade.
Ettrick mill,* for example, spins wool into yarn. Part of the
yarn is transferred to the hosiery factories, f Part of it is woven
into cloth and sent to the S.C.W.S. clothing factories or sold
to the distributive societies. The EngUsh Wholesale mills at
Batley and Dewsbury are also requisitioned when necessary ;
and the C.W.S. mills at Bury, where sheetings and linings are
produced on 1,000 looms, also provide some of the materials
required in the S.C.W.S. factories. The clothing of the
Co-operators of Scotland is a big undertaking ; but the S.C.W.S.
does its part of the job with singular success.
SHIRTS, HOSIERY, AND UNDERCLOTHING.
In the historical section of this volume % the origin of the
S.C.W.S. shirt factory is set forth, and in this section we are
not concerned with its history so much as with the factory
and its work. The shirt factory of 1881 was the Wholesale's
first venture in production, and hke some of the other clothing
factories it has been moved about a good deal since its inception.
The shirt factory's first habitation was in Dundas Street ; from
there it was transferred to Wallace Street, then to Shieldhall,
and for some years it has been one of the important group of
factories located at the south-end of Paterson Street. The
factory was engaged not only in the production of shirts but
in the production of artisan § clothing tiU 1890, and of under-
clothing till 1901. Now there are two shirt factories — ^the wool
* See page 406. f See page 386.
X See page 119. § See page 379.
SHIRTS, HOSIERY. AND UNDERCLOTHING 383
shirt factory in Glasgow and the dress shirt factory at
PotterhUl, Paisley.
The shirt factories are both regarded as show places by the
Wholesale shareholders and by advocates of rational relations
between employer and employed. The trade was notoriously
a sweated trade, and some shirt manufacturers still sweat their
workers. The Trade Boards Acts and the growth of trade
unionism among the workers have improved the position of the
shirtmakers in general ; but the S.C.W.S. began its enterprise
before the workers engaged in shirtmaking had these aids.
The "V^Hiolesale Society reckoned it to be its duty to eliminate
sweating from the first ; and it is with pride that all associated
with the Society recall that the shirt factory began its
operations with a recognised forty-four hours week, and began
by paying wages which improved the position of the employees
above that of the people employed in similar work by other
manufacturers. The example of the S.C.W.S. gave a decided
stimulus to the demand of the shirtmakers in the country for
a better wage aU round. Many manufacturers argued that
there was no profit in shirtmaking, and that higher wages than
prevailed in the sweating factories could not be paid without
jeopardising the business ; but industrial reformers met this
argument by pointing to the S.C.W.S. to show that the supposed
impossible was actually being done. The S.C.W.S. has given
all its help to the anti-sweating movement, and it has exhibited
at various exhibitions organised by the Anti-Sweating League
and the Scottish Council for Women's Trades. Its contribution
to these exhibitions has usually been to erect a number of shirt-
making machines to show the actual conditions under which
the girls work.
The methods employed in the factory are much the same as
those employed in the clothing factories. The material is cut
in bulk by a band knife, and the shirts are built up bit by bit at
the various machines, the net output representing three shirts per
minute every working day. The shirts range from the blue
flannel of the labourer to the fancy wool shirt of the young man
about town ; and the transfer value of the shirts (exclusive of the
value of the 550 miles of cloth used in the year) was £14,373 in
1918. The factory employs about 140 persons; but the number
was greater before the war disorganised the labour market.
384 WHOLESALE CO-OPERATION IN SCOTLAND
The dress shirt and collar factory, with which is combined
a laundry, is situated at Potterhill, Paisley. The dress shirt
iactory was originally situated at Leith, on the ground adjoining
the Junction mill, where the business was inaugurated in 1901.
There was a laundry attached to the factory, so that the dress
-shirts and coUars might be sent out " ready to wear." The
•situation was not happily chosen, and in 1904, to escape
impurities of the atmosphere, the laundry was transferred to
Chappelfield, Barrhead. It did not conflict, of course, with
the Scottish Co-operative Laundry Association's estabUshment,
which was specially established and equipped to do the laundry
-work of the Co-operators of Scotland, for the Chappelfield
laundry was only utiUsed for the dressing of the Wholesale's
■own productions. Even this laundry did not serve the purpose
so well as was expected, and in 1908 the Potterhill premises
-were acquired and adapted for the purpose, and work was
commenced there in January 1909. The latest methods of
cleansing and dressing the shirts and collars were apphed, and
the machinery was in some respects quite novel and ingenious.
The laundry only occupied part of the building, and this fact,
coupled with the consideration of delay and inconvenience owing
±0 the distance between the factory and its related laimdry,
led to the transfer of the dress shirt and collar factory to
Potterhill also, the beginning being made there in 1912.
Barrhead Co-operators did not Hke the transfer of the Wholesale
laundry to Paisley, despite the behef that "it is not lost what
a friend gets," and an election for a seat on the S.C.W.S.
■directorate was fought on the issue. Barrhead won ; but the
laundry was by then at Paisley. Leith Co-operators did not
hke the transfer of the factory to Paisley ; but they were
placated by the inauguration of a hosiery factory in the premises
vacated by the shirt factory. The factory premises are large,
and are well Hghted from the roof. The high roof is a desirable
feature, and conduces to a better atmosphere than that which
pervades most factories under other management. The dress
shirt and collar factory, Uke Ettrick nuU, the waterproof
factory, and the Taybank jute works, is run in the interests of
the English and Scottish Wholesale Societies. It supplies both
-Federations, and, although managed and financed by the
"S.C.W.S., the profits or losses are allocated to the two societies
BELGIAN REFUGEES AT CALDERWOOD CASTLE
1, 2, 4, 5. Types of Refugees. 3. The Castle School,
6. Prize Day at the School.
SHIRTS, HOSIERY, AND UNDERCLOTHING 385
in proportion to purchases. The goods produced comprise what
are commonly called " white shirts," fancy coloured dress and
neglige shirts (except woollen shirts), collars, and cuffs. Much
of the material used in the manufacture of these articles comes
from the C.W.S. mill at Bury ; but it is worthy of note that
99 per cent, of the dress shirts and collars sold by the Wholesale
drapery department are taken from the Society's own factory,
which, with the laundry, employs 300 persons assisted by 317
up-to-date machines. All the workers required could not be
obtained in the district, and stitching centres were established
at Auchinleck and Kirkconnel, which have increased the
production and have provided employment in districts where
the necessary workers were available.
In closing the reference to these shirt factories it may be
remarked that the trade is one in which there is keen com-
petition ; but the Wholesale prides itself on the fact that it
leads the trade in the wages and conditions given to its
employees. While that is so, the Society is still willing to
improve the lot of the workers, and Co-operators may be
interested in a statement once made to the writer by the manager
of the drapery warehouse, who is largely responsible for the
supervision of the factories allied with the warehouse. He was
talking at the time about the custom of selling shirts at such
prices as 3/ii|, 4/iii, 5/iii. etc., and he said : " If purchasers
would pay that extra halfpenny on the shirt, we could afford
to pay our workers 10 per cent, more wages." It woxild mean
that a girl who was gett